


Ever After

by AnnieLoveHappens



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Historical, Based on Ever After, Cinderella Elements, F/F, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, Glass Slippers (Cinderella), Historical Fantasy, Historical References, Katya as a Romanov, Lesbian Katya Zamolodchikova, Lesbian Trixie Mattel, Mild Smut, Princess Katya - Freeform, Russian Katya Zamolodchikova, Trixie Mattel X Katya Zamolodchikova - Freeform, Trixie as Cinderella, UNHhhh, Violence, Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova - Freeform, romanov - Freeform, trixya - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 30,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26664955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieLoveHappens/pseuds/AnnieLoveHappens
Summary: "Her name was Beatrice Mattel. And this, was her glass slipper. Perhaps you will allow me to set the record straight?" The Grand Duchess says as she picks a beautiful shoe out of the silver box."Then it's true? The story?" The writer enquires."Yes, quite. Now.. what is that frase you use? Ah yes, once upon a time there lived a young girl who loved her father very much...Most will suspect that the story of Cinderella is nothing but a fairytale, a simple children's tale passed down through generations.Who would have thought that it all actually happened back before Yekaterina Petrovna of House Romanov became Empress of all of Russia?
Relationships: Trixie Mattel/Katya Zamolodchikova
Comments: 58
Kudos: 63





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is heavily based on the movie Ever After from 1998, but it is also partly built around Russian history and particularly the life and reign of Empress Yelisaveta Petrovna.  
> Katya essentially is Yelisaveta(Elisabeth) family tree wise in this, and therefore is the great grandaunt of Maria Pavlovna of Russia.  
> The story in general is filled with little historic easter eggs.

The hooves of four horses sound through the courtyard as a foreign carriage enters. Two men exit the vehicle as it comes to a halt before the front entrance. While dressed smartly, in their Sunday's best, it would be clear to anyone that these two do not belong on the castle grounds.

The visit however is expected, the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna herself having requested the pair to come to the Belvedere Palace.

It was an odd affair, two academics and authors traveling from Berlin to Weimar to see a Russian princess, and now the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by marriage, in order to discuss a collection of children's stories that the pair had gathered from far and near.

As they enter the palace, two footmen lead them up to the Grand Duchess's private chambers where she usually only allows female company, having made an exception on this occasion.

The woman is rather young still, only a little over a decade into her marriage to the Grand Duke, but her features age her as she had a disfigurement brought upon her by a pioneering application of a smallpox vaccine many years before.

Maria therefore often lives in the world of music and books, spending most her time playing the piano and reading rather than entertaining company. This however lead her to discover the version the Brothers Grimm had created of the tale of the young Cinderella, a version she finds to be greatly flawed.

"Good day gentlemen, thank you so much for coming." The Duchess greets the men as they sit down opposite her around the small round table sat in the middle of the room. She signals for tea to be brought in and waits until it has been served to start their discussion.

"I am sure you must be wondering why I have asked you here." She says as she puts down her cup after sipping the hot beverage.

"Your letter was certainly intriguing, Madam." Jacob, the eldest brother replies.

"I must admit, I find your collection of folk tales quite brilliant actually." The Duchess says sincerely.

"Thank you." The younger brother, Wilhelm replies before the woman continues.

"But I must say, I was terribly disturbed when I read your version of the tale of the little cinder girl."

"Well, there are hundreds of accounts, some swearing a version with magic pumpkins is closer to the truth." The older brother says, before Wilhelm takes over.

"Some swear the shoe was made of fur, others insist it was glass... well, I guess we'll never know."

The noble woman waves at a maid, the younger girl returning with an engraved box made of pure silver moments later.

"Forgive me, but might I enquire about the painting? She really is quite extraordinary." Jacob says as he views a portrait of a young woman which sits in the corner of the room in a golden frame. The girl's features are round and elegant, her expression calm as her long hair flows around her in large curls.

"Her name was Beatrice Mattel. And _this_ , was her glass slipper. Perhaps you will allow me to set the record straight?" The Grand Duchess says as she picks a beautiful shoe out of the silver box.

"Then it's true? The story?" The writer inquires.

"Yes, quite. Now.. what is that frase you use? Ah yes, once upon a time there lived a young girl who loved her father very much..."


	2. A Young Girl's Life

It was at sunrise her father returned from his long journey. The young girl had missed him terribly as he was the only parent she had left, her mother having died in child birth.  
The Mattel family had originally moved to the Russian Empire from England years before Beatrice's birth, but while her father was a wealthy man, he still traveled often for business.   
Now he had finally made his way back home from his latest travel to England, bringing with him the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna of House Naryshkina, who's english husband had passed away years before, and her two daughters Violet and Courtney. 

"Oh Kasha, it feels just like Christmas. I get a mother and sisters all in one day." The blonde child said excitedly.

"Yes, it's gonna very exciting around here, with a Baroness and all." The older woman replied as she dressed the girl in her finest frocks to get her ready to meet her new family members, groaning in annoyance when the girl ran away from her to view her new dress in the mirror.

"The Master deserves some happiness after all this time, bringing up a child on his own." The other maid, miss Tempest spoke.

"I hope she likes me." The young girl said innocently.

"Oh, she will love you, Beatrice. Just be the little angel we know is in there somewhere." Mrs Davis replied as she poked the young child's nose to bring a smile to the nervous girl's lips.

Just then rocks hit the window of the girl's bedroom, making the blonde run to see who it was.

"Child! Your father arrives any moment." miss Tempest said, but the girl payed her no mind as she saw her friend Ron standing beneath the window. 

"Ron, I told you; not today!" The girl yelled out to him to make sure he heard her well.

"Trixie? You look like a girl!" He yelled in surprise. Beatrice Mattel would often wear boys' clothing when the pair went on their adventures, so the young farmhand had rarely seen her all dressed up.

"That's what I am, you halfwit!" She responded.

"Yeah, but today you look it!"

"Well boy or girl, I can still whip you!" She yelled as she ran out of the room before the maids had any chance to stop her, chasing after her friend to teach him a lesson.

When the Master of the House returned home, all servants and maids stood at the ready, but Harold Mattel noted that his daughter was nowhere to be seen.

"Welcome home Master, I hear you've brought us a Baroness." Mr. Davis spoke as he greeted his employer.

"I've brought you an entire household Steven, but I seem to be missing a daughter." The man replied.

Just then the carriage door opened, revealing a young dark haired girl dressed in black and another young child with blonde hair dressed in blue, before an older woman who carried herself with regal poise stepped out of the small door.

"Oh Harold, it's absolutely charming." The woman spoke as she viewed the large country home made of stone which also served as a small farm, the sound of chickens audible for anyone to hear as they entered the premises.

"Papa!" A young girl covered in mud yelled as she ran into her father's arms.

"Oh Trixie, look at you, you look just as you did when I left. I wager your friend Ron is around here somewhere." The man laughed as he viewed his daughter.

"No Sir, I slaughtered him!" She said excitedly, her father laughing harder as she saw her friend in a far worse state than the young girl was in, the poor boy drenched in mud from head to toe.

"You know, I had hoped to present a little lady, but I suppose you'll have to do." He teased as he kissed the top of her head lovingly. "Trixie, may I present the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna of House Naryshkina, and her daughters Violet and Courtney." The man added, pointing to the three, showing Trixie that the blonde was Courtney, whilst the brunette was Violet.

"Hello Beatrice, at last we meet. Your father speaks of nothing else." The Baroness Irina told the young girl, before turning to speak to her own daughters.

"Ladies, say hello to your new stepsister." The two other girls curtsied politely, but Trixie could not help but wonder why her new mother had emphasized the word "stepsister" so much. Nevertheless she bowed back as a proper lady should.

When nightfall came, the young girl sat in bed with her father beside it as was their common routine whenever he was home.

"Here, I brought you a gift." The man said as he handed her a small bag made of linnen which Trixie opened to reveal a book.

"Utopia." She said as she read it's title.

"It means paradise. It may be a bit thick for an eight year-old, but I figured it would make a good addition to our library." Her father explained.

"Will you read some?" The girl asked.

"It's been a very long day, Trixie." He said as he shook his head.

"And you're a husband now." Trixie teased making her father laugh.

"Yes, a husband. But always a father first and forever. It's been only you and me for quite some time, I suspect this may take some time to get used to." He said as he tucked the little girl in.

"Yes, but did you see the way they ate their supper? It was perfect, just like a dance!" The girl said excitedly as she remembered the lovely affair.

"Do you like them?" Her father asked before kissing her cheek.

"Very much." The girl replied.

"Good, because I must away again in a fourth night." The man said, knowing the arguments that were soon to come from his daughter.

"But you just came back! How long?" The young girl whined.

"Just three weeks." He replied.

"One."

"Two." He countered.

"One." She said before making him play rock, paper, scissors and ending up victorious, like she so often did.

"Allright, one." The man said as he hugged his beloved daughter one last time before leaving her for the night.

The days passed by quickly, as they always did when the girl's father was home, and soon the day when he had to leave again had come.

"Never in my life have I seen so many gloomy faces." Harold spoke as he saw the household lined up outside. "I shall be back in a week." He added as he kissed the cheek of his new wife.

"Then go, the sooner you leave, the sooner we can celebrate your return." The Baroness replied.

"Perhaps when I return, the four of your will have gotten to know eachother better." The man said as he made his way down the line, saying goodbye to his children, stopping at Trixie to add; "I'm counting on you to teach them how things work around her, the Baroness is not used to getting her hands dirty.".

As he made his way over to his horse he felt a pain in his arm, his wrist cramping as he took the reins that Mr. Davis handed to him.

"Come along ladies, we must get back to our lessons." Irina said as she saw her husband ride away.

"Wait, it's tradition, he always waves at the gate." Trixie said. The woman however ignored the child and stepped inside the house.

Moments later, just before the child's father reached the gate, he fell off his horse as his heart gave in. Trixie screamed out for her father as she ran to his side, alerting the Baroness who came running out of the house.

"Papa, please wake up!" The young girl cried as she tried to awaken her father. Tempest and Kasha came to her side, helping the man turn over.

"Harold." The Baroness said sadly as she took the man's hand. Harold however looked away from her and turned his head towards his daughter, reaching a weak hand up to comb through the child's hair.

"I-I love you. I love you, Trixie." The man said with his dying breath.

"Papa!" The girl screamed as the light left her father's eyes.

"No! Harold, you cannot leave me here. You cannot leave me here!"The Baroness cried out as the maid's tried to remove them both from the dead man's body. The young girl holding on to her father tightly, desperatly clinging to the hope that he might awaken again.  
Unfortunately, the man was already gone, the poor child's cries in vain.

It would be ten years before another loved one entered Beatrice's life, and it would be in the most unexpected way.


	3. A Peculiar Princess

"I signed a marriage treaty with the King of France, and that girl will obey it. If not there will be hell to pay. I have had enough of her foolishness, we have already been grand enough by allowing her to go through with these disgusting delusions. If I had been my grandfather, she would have been burned for these desires." The Tsar spoke as he walked through the castle corridors angrily, the cloak of night already upon them.

"But she does not love her, my Lord." The Tsarina told him, trying to calm her husband.

"It's not about love." He replied.

"Well, perhaps it should be." The woman reasoned, knowing that their own marriage had been the product of love, the two having sneaked off to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in St. Petersburg to be married in secret. 

"She must learn responsibillity, Alexei is gone and while his son Pyotr lives on, we must prepare Yekaterina for a life were she might still become my successor. I have accepted that her successors will come from her siblings, but I demand that she shall still be married." The Emperor insisted.

"The sampling cannot grow in the shadow of a mighty oak, she needs sunlight." The Tsarina tried again.

"She needs a good whipping, that's what she needs." The man replied as they made their way towards the chambers of the Grand Duchess.

"Really Pyotr, can't this wait till morning?" The Emperess enquired.

"If I cannot sleep, neither shall she." The Tsar said as they bursted into the princess's chambers, finding them entirely empty.

"Oh no, not again, Kathinka." The Grand Duchess's mother whispered under her breath, knowing her husband's anger was growing by the minute.

The Grand Duchess Yekataterina Petrovna, was a curious child. Her beauty was exquisite, her face like porcelain, her eyes bright blue like the sky at high noon, and her hair hanging in long blonde ringlets. This was something that greatly annoyed her father as it was wellknown that the young princess could have had any man she wanted, but there in layed the issue as the Grand Duchess did not want a man at all, she wanted a woman.

The girl's father was quite right. Her grandfather, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, would have had her burned for her sexuality. Even her father's own laws were an issue as he himself had passed a law banning homosexual relations in the millitary, and as such his own daughter being allowed to marry a woman was quite controversial. However, the girl was still the apple of his eye, especially being the only living child he had left, and as such she gained priviliges. Of course, it would have been far easier if Katya had just agreed to marry Princess Nicole of France as she had been requested to do. But being the headstrong woman she was, the Grand Duchess of course refused to follow intructions.

Once again her mother and father found themselves in an empty bedroom, ready to teach their unruly daugther a lesson. Katya however was long gone, having made a rope out of bedsheets to climb down from her guilded cage. Not caring that the tower loomed high over the ground as she had made her way down and ran off with one of their horses.

She rode until morning broke but that was when her horse grew tired and threw her off, running away before she could stop it. Katya was not nearly far enough away to evade her father's clutches so she needed to find another horse quickly. Just then she heard the rooster sing as she neared a large farm house, she hurried over and saw large stable grounds.   
Oh, how luck had smiled upon her once again, she thought as she fetched a large stallion as black as coal. Katya quickly mounted the horse, making haste to travel onwards. 

As the Grand Duchess rode out and neared the farm's orchard, an apple flew towards her, quickly followed by another. In no time at all she had been thrown off the horse, finding herself on the ground with her cloak wrapped around her head, hiding the princess's face from view.

"Thief!" Another girl's voice yelled as more apples flew at the princess.

"This will teach you not to steal my father's horse." The young girl's voice sounded again as she hurled another apple towards the Grand Duchess.

"Please, my own ran off, I had no choice." The young princess replied, trying and failing to explain her situation.

"And our choice is what? To let you steal it?" The other girl responded.

"I was only borrowing it." The Grand Duchess tried again, her cloak still hiding her attacker from her.

"Get out, before I wake the house." The girl spoke again. 

Finally Katya managed to free herself of her cloak's hold, the garment falling into it's proper posisition once more, revealing a young farm girl. The young princess looked the woman over, finding it most likely that the she was a maid at the house. Soot from the fireplace on the woman's face and hay in her hair clouded the girl's features, but Katya still saw a great deal of beauty in her. She did not have much time to take in the girl's features however as the young woman fell to her knees before the princess moments later, her face towards the earth as she begged forgiveness.

"Forgive me your Highness, for I did not see you." The young woman said.

"Your aim would suggest otherwise." Katya replied as she felt her body grow sore from where the apples had hit her.

"And for that I know I must die." The girl said. The Grand Duchess had forgotten entirely that it could in fact be counted as an attack on the crown and as such there was punishment by death awaiting the young woman. The princess could not however tell the girl that she was in fact running away from the palace to avoid getting married, and as such could not in fact carry out such a punishment.

"Eeh, the-then speak of this to no one, and I shall be lenient." Katya responded. She needed the girl's silence to protect her from her father figuring out which route she had taken. The Grand Duchess quickly mounted the horse once again, desperate to not waste more time.

"We have other horses, Your Highness. Younger, if that is your wish." The maid said in a shaking tone.

"I wish for nothing more than to be free of my guilded cage." Katya said as she emptied a bag of coins before the girl. "For your silence." She added, as she rode off, continuing her journey for freedom.


	4. Dawn Brings A New Day

Beatrice Mattel would often find herself sleeping by the fireplace, no longer allowed to sleep in her childhood bedchamber. The young girl now lived in a small one roomed cottage near the pigsty, the draft of night often too cold to bear. Therefore soot and ashes became her friends as she'd lay by the fire and read Utopia, the last book her late father had brought home and her favorite piece of litterature.

It was a morning like all others, the sound of the rooster woke her up, and then she went on her rounds to feed the pigs and chickens. As she made her way towards the orchard however she saw Royal guards riding by, something that was highly unusual in their parts of the land.  
Nevertheless she continued on with her rounds, gathering a mass of apples for breakfast in her apron when the sound of a horse galloping drew her attention.  
Trixie would know the horse anywhere, it's black silky smooth hair easily reckognizable. That was her father's horse, the very same he had fallen off on the day he passed away.

"Thief!" She yelled at the rider. 

"This will teach you not to steal my father's horse." Trixie said as she started throwing apples at the theif until they fell of the animal, their cloak hiding their face from view.

"Please, my own ran off, I had no choice." A girl's voice said, this somewhat surprised Trixie as she had expected the theif to be a man based off of the way they were dressed.

"And our choice is what? To let you steal it?" Beatrice responded.

"I was only borrowing it." The thief tried to explain.

"Get out, before I wake the house." Trixie spoke again, taking some pity on the desperate girl.

Just then the thief managed to unwrap the cloak from around her, unveiling a young girl wearing not men's clothing but proper riding garments bearing the Royal crest. The girl was beautiful, far more than any woman Trixie had ever seen before. Her blonde hair long, but tied in the back, her eyes clear blue, and her face pale, clearly never having had to stay out working under the burning sun. Beatrice fell to her knees as she realized that this was the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna, the only living child of Tsar Pyotr The Great. She looked down towards the earth as she begged the princess for forgiveness.

"Forgive me your Highness, for I did not see you." Trixie said.

"Your aim would suggest otherwise." The Grand Duchess replied.

"And for that I know I must die." Beatrice knew the laws well, an attack on the crown meant certain death.

"Eeh, the-then speak of this to no one, and I shall be lenient." The princess responded to the young girl's surprise.

"We have other horses, Your Highness. Younger, if that is your wish." Trixie said in a shaking tone, for even if it was the princess, that horse was one of the few things she had left of her father.

"I wish for nothing more than to be free of my guilded cage." The Grand Duchess said as she emptied a bag of coins, twenty gold roubles falling before the young farm girl. "For your silence." The princess added, as she rode off, leaving Trixie in a state of confusion. The young girl quickly gathered the money, it being far more than she had ever had on her person, as she ran into the kitchens.

From the main dining room a conversation could be heard as Trixie entered the kitchen and emptied the rest of her apples into a basket. The breakfast of the ladies of the house was well under way and Violet was as usual not pleased by the spread.

"I said I wanted four minute eggs, not four one minute eggs, and where in God's name is our bread?" The young dark haired girl yelled as she pushed her eggs away, Mrs Davis taking them from the table as she informed the girl that the bread was on it's way. 

Whilst Trixie had grown up humble and kind, Violet had grown up entitled and rude, her mother allowing this to happen as the child was her favorite. The girl was despite her temperament incredibly beautiful, so much that it was envied by many in the Empire. But that beauty seemed wasted on someone so spoilt in Trixie's opinion.

"Violet, precious, what do I always say about tone?" Baroness Irina said, trying to control the young girl's temper.

"A lady of breeding ought never to raise her voice any louder than that of a whispering wind." The other young lady, Courtney said, her sister giving her a foul look. Courtney was kinder than the others, whilst enjoying the goods of her priviliged life, the girl did feel sympathy for those less fortunate.

"Courtney dear, do not speak unless you can improve the silence." Her mother scolded, as she so often did whenever Courtney spoke, even if she had stated the correct answer. The young blonde recoiled in her seat, feeling small as her mother once again ignored the fact that Courtney actually payed attention to her teachings.

"I was not shrill, I was resonant, a courtier knows the difference." Violet replied in a snarky tone.

"I very much doubt that your style of resonance would be permitted in the Royal Court." Irina replied stricly.

"Well, I'm not going to Court, am I mother? No one is except that french pig they have the nerve to name a princess." The dark haired girl said in annoyence. All of Russia knew that The Grand Duchess was promised to a french princess, that her half-brother Alexei from the Tsar's first marriage was dead, and Alexei's son Pyotr was already married. Therefor there really was no hope of making it into Court unless the princess's marriage was somehow prevented.

"Darling, nothing is final until you are dead. And even then I'm sure God negotiates." The Baroness told her daughter. "Why is there no salt on this table? Beatrice!" The woman called as she viewed their breakfast spread.

"Coming!" Trixie's voice called from the kitchen.

"Oh she's in one of her moods, did the sun really rise in the east?" Tempest said, having fallen victim to the Baroness's annoyance more than once already that morning.

"Yes Tempest, it did. And it is going to be a beautiful day." Trixie said as she emptied her pockets and revealed the coins to the others.

"Child, where did you get this? Look at all those feathers." Tempest said as she viewed the money.

"An angel of mercy, and I know just what to do with them." The girl said turning to the other maid.

"Steven?" Mrs Davis asked, her eyes damp as she realised she might get her husband back.

"If the Baroness can sell your husband to pay her taxes, than surely this can bring him home. The Court will have to let him go." Trixie said excitedly.

"But the King as sold him to Lieven, who will most certainly sell him to the Khanate of Khiva." Mrs David said, her worry clear as day.

"This is our home, and I will not see it fall apart. I will do anything to make him return." The young girl said in a serious tone.

"We are waiting!" The Baroness called from the dining room.

"Oh, make haste Mistress, and take all these coins or they are as good as hers." Tempest said as she stuffed the coins back in the pockets of the young girl.

Beatrice brought out the salt and bread, greeting the three ladies politely as she set the food down on the table.

"What kept you?" Irina asked, the woman always having a need to know everything that went on in the house.

"I feel off the ladder in the orchard, but I am better now." Trixie said, happy with her excuse coming to her so quickly.

"Someone's been reading in the fireplace again, look at you ash and soot everywhere." Violet said in a snarky tone as she laughed at the poor girl's expense.

"Some people read because they cannot think for themselves." The girl's mother chimed in.

"Why don't you sleep with the pigs Cinder-soot, if you insist on smelling like one?" The dark hair girl said with a smirk.

"Oh, that was harsh Violet." Irina said to her daughter. "Beatrice, come here child. Your appearance seem to reflect a certain crudeness, what can I do to make you try?" The woman added towards the young farm girl.

"I do try stepmother, I do wish to please you. Often I sit on my own and think of what I could do, how I should act..."

"Oh calm down child, relax." The woman interupted, waving the child off. Beatrice pulled away, feeling helpless as she always did around the woman whom she had so wished would be like a mother to her.

"Perhaps, if we brought back Mr. Davis, I would not offend you so." The child suggested.

"It is your manner that offends, Beatrice. Throughout these difficult years, I have sheltered you, clothed you and cared for you. All that I have asked in return is that you help me here without complaint. Is that such a ridiculously large request?" The Baroness said harsly, her voice laced with anger as she spoke to the young girl.

"No, my lady." Trixie responded in a small voice.

"Very well, we shall have no more talk of kholops coming back then. Is that understood?" Irina said stricly.

"Yes, my lady." The young girl replied.

"After all I that I do, after all I have done, it's never enough." She heard her stepmother say as she exited the room. Beatrice really did not know what the woman was referring to as Mr and Mrs Davis, Tempest, Ron, and herself were the ones who kept the farm running. All the Baroness had done was spend too much of the girl's late father's money, landing Irina and by extension all of them in debt.


	5. A Mysterious Painting

As The Grand Duchess continued on her journey, she came across three carriages that were being plundered by a band of thieves. The Royal Guard to the princess's distress were seen in the clearing nearby, causing the thieves to run away. 

"God, I can't believe this." Katya muttered to herself at the sheer coincidence of the robbery happening just then, and the fact that the guards were getting closer the scene of the crime. She made haste to get away, but was stopped by a older man.

"Please, my Lady, for the love of God, the painting. That man there he is getting away. Please, it is my life." The man insisted. The Grand Duchess took pity on the man, and chased after the theif even while knowing it would cause her to loose her chance of getting away.

The thief was swift and quick, but Katya was a well-trained rider, and quickly caught up with him, grabbing the canister which contained the painting out of his grip, riding back to the carriages victoriously. When she did arrive back, the guards were already there, any chance of escaping already lost.

"Oh, thank god." The painter exclaimed as he saw the woman carrying his artwork.

"Yekaterina, you promised." Ivan, the head of the Royal Guard said. The Grand Duchess had only days before promised him not to attempt to run away again.

"I know, I lied. I thought I would see the world before giving up my life to my country and the potential wrath of God." She replied as she dismounted her horse.

"Then why on earth did you stop?" The painter asked.

"I suppose it is because I lack conviction, something you seem to have more than enough of, besides you claimed retrieving that painting to be a matter of life and death." Katya replied as the man opened the scroll to check the state of his artwork.

"A woman always is, my lady." He replied as he unveiled a marvelous painting of a beautiful, young, dark skinned girl, her hair in tight ringlets and her eyes seeming to burn into Katya's soul. The woman was dressed in fine clothing, a blue silk frock on her form and a delicate fan in her hand. Her smile was peculiar, making her seem like she held unspoken knowledge.

"She laughs at me Sir, as if she knows something I do not." The Grand Duchess said.

"The woman had many secrets, I merely painted one of them." The painter replied.

"Monsieur Caravaque as been invited back to the palace as the artist in residence." Ivan informed the princess. Katya then finally realised who the man was as he had painted her years before when she was nothing but a child.

"Louis?" She said excitedly.

"Yes, my child, it is I." The kind man replied. Louis was originally from Marseilles but had traveled all over the world including to Russia previously to paint their family portraits. As a young girl Katya had always loved to hear stories of the man's travels and adventures, the mysterious tales never failing to fascinate.

"You are really staying with us?" The Grand Duchess asked.

"Well, Godfrey Kneller was otherwise engaged, I am merely the second choice." The painter quipped.

"Here I am on my way out of the country and I find my salvation on the highway. Louis, you have traveled everywhere and know the steps of progress that must be made so well, please help my father realise that his thinking is nothing short of outdated." She begged the artist.

"Captain Ivan, please translate." Louis asked the guard.

"The Grand Duchess suffers from an arranged marriage, monsieur... among other things." Ivan replied, earning him a dirty look from Katya.

On their way towards the palace, they stopped at the farm house to give the borrowed horse back to it's owners, Ivan informing Katya beforehand that it was the abode of the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna of House Naryshkina.

"Oh, Your Highness, what a lovely surprise. To what do we owe this great honor?" The Baroness said as she greeted The Grand Duchess.

"I am returning your horse Baroness." Katya replied.

"Oh.. Was it missing?" The woman asked confused.

"Yes, I took the liberty of borrowing it this morning. I am afraid I may have greatly scared on of your servants. A young maiden, with quite a good arm actually." The Grand Duchess said as she remembered the pain of the apples hitting her, and the objectively great aim the young girl had.

"She is mute, Your Highness." The Baronese said, visually uncomfortable with the news of her servant attacking someone from the House Romanov.

"Really? She spoke quite forcefully to me this morning." Katya said, not buying into the woman's explanation.

"Well, it comes and goes." Irina said nervously. "But Your Highness is of course always welcome to anything she might wish, anything at all, my Lady." The woman added.

Just then two young women stormed out the door to join the Baroness by the grand enterance in an unorganized fashion.

"Oh ladies. There you are." Their mother said as she tried to cover for their crude enterance.

"Your Highness." The two girls greeted, both very out of breath.

"Your Highness, may I present my daughters; Violet Natalya Alexandra of the House Naryshkina... and Courtney." The Baroness introduced, not sounding nearly as excited about presenting the young blonde as she had been when presenting the dark haired beauty.

"You may indeed. Ladies, forgive me but you seem to have blossomed overnight, your beauty more glowing than ever before." The Grand Duchess said in the most rehearsed tone possible.

"We are so looking forward to celebrating your engagement, Your Highness." Irina said stepping closer.

"Ah yes, well there have been several new developments in regards to France." Katya replied as she looked towards the two young women, eyeing a golden brooch sitting right below the sliver of Violet's visible cleavage. "I must say, Violet, that brooch is stunning." She added.

"Oh this old thing, you are too kind, my Lady." The girl replied in a flirtatious voice as she pressed it closer to herself, pushing her bossom up even higher.

"These developments... I trust will be for the best?" The Baroness enquired.

"Let us hope so, unfortunatly we cannot know the future." The Grand Duchess said with a sigh. "Good day ladies." She added as she and the Royal Guard rode back towards the palace were Katya was sure her father's wrath awaited her.


	6. A Fated Encounter

"No, too small." The Baroness said as the merchant showed her a silver brooch.

"I fear that anything larger might make her fall over." The man replied.

"Perhaps you're right, we shall just have too look elsewhere." Irina said as she and Violet turned to leave, the man panicked and quickly retrieved a large gold brooch, the very same that the Grand Duchess herself would take notice of later on that very same day.

Two floors up in an abandoned room of the estate, a young man stood looking out the window to keep an eye on the pair, as his friend changed from her worn out garments.

"Have you lost your marbles? Do you know the punishment for a servant dressing above their station?" The young lad asked the blonde girl.

"You would have done the same for me, Ron. Admit it." Trixie told him. She knew the punishment well, five days in the stocks and usually about 10 hits from the whip aswell, but Mr Davis needed her help.

"Me? Pretend to be a courtier? Prancing around like some nobleman without having ever been to court? Neither have you, in case you forgot." Ron replied. 

"Then I won't be reckognized." The girl argued.

"They will never believe it, you are too sweet, too innocent. No courtier is like that." He said as the girl stepped behind the changing screen, throwing her dress over it moments later.

"They'll never buy a servant with twenty gold roubles either. I am Steven's only hope. Please, hand me the gown so I can be on my way." She said, stripping off her undergarments and changing them to the ones she'd found in her late mother's wardrobe. 

"And the Baroness? What did you tell her to excuse your absence?" The boy enquired as he handed the beautiful gown to the young girl.

"I said that I am picking wildflowers, foolishly she did not question it. Of course, she never pays any attention to me anyways. Ron, can you still see her?" Trixie said.

"They're buying a brooch." 

"Unbelievable. She ignores the manor, blames us for her debt and still prances around acting as if she has money to burn. She'll send us all into ruin." Trixie said as she carefully put on the magnificent dress, it's silky smooth texture feeling odd compared to the rough fabrics she was used to. "Now, don't you dare laugh. I'm coming out." She said as she stepped out from behind the screen. 

The boy smiled as he saw her, his friend whom he'd almost all his life seen with soot or mud on her clothes, standing there before him like a true lady. Her skin freshly washed, tho ash still remained beneath her fingernails, her hair ungroomed contrasting the intricately made dress. She looked truly unmatched in beauty there she stood dressed in layers of silk, velvet, and muslin, some of the fabrics embroidered and sewn with pearls or gold thread. 

"The shoes are too big." Trixie said innocently as she shuffled her feet, her eyes looking towards the floor.

"Nobody will be looking at your feet." Ron comforted.

"Yards of fabric yet still I feel naked." The girl said nervously.

"If you are going to be a courtier, you have to play the part. You'll look down to no one." The young man said as he lifted her chin, making Beatrice smile softly.

"I am just a servant in a nice dress." She replied with tears threatening to spill.

"But they do not know that." Ron said warmly. "Come, we must do something about that hair of yours." He added as he pulled her to sit down in a chair nearby. He combed her hair, removing all knots, some which Beatrice feared had been there for years by how tough they were to comb through, before he gathered her hair in a beautiful pearl embroidered hairnet.

When Beatrice arrived at the palace, the guards let her through without question, no one expecting her to be anything less than a noblewoman by the way she was dressed. She quickly made her way through the courtyard, her eyes searching for the servant that she had come to free. By the time when she finally spotted the man, he was already being guided into a prisoner transport carriage, meaning that soon all her efforts would be in veign.

"Lord, please give me strenght." The girl prayed before running down to stop the carriage. As soon as she had reached it she grabbed the reins of the horse at the front.

"I wish to discuss the issue of this gentleman, he is my kholop and I wish to pay the debt against him." She spoke clearly, an air of confidence coming over her as she adressed the slave trader.

"You're too late missy, he's already bought and payed for." The crude man spoke. 

"I can pay you twenty gold roubles."

"Madam, you can have me for twenty gold roubles, now get out of the road." He said in annoyance.

"I demand his release, or I shall take this matter to the Tsar." Trixie said, standing her ground.

"The Tsar sold him, he is now the property of Lieven."

"He is not property at all, you ill-mannered hog. Do you honestly find it just to chain people like chattle? I demand you release him at once." She spoke strictly. The man's anger grew as he rose from his seat.

"Get out of my way!" He yelled in the young woman's face.

Just then the sound of horses could be heard behind them as the Royal Guard had returned with the painter Louis Caravaque and the Grand Duchess Yekaterina, after the princess's morning adventure.

"You dare raise your voice to a lady, sir?" Katya said, shocked by the display.

"Your Highness, please forgive me, I meant no disrespect. I am just following my orders, my lady." The man replied nervously, babbling on like a baboon, the Grand Duchess's attention however had already been grabbed by the remarkable beauty that the man had been yelling at.

The young lady was unlike any woman Katya had ever seen. Her form like that of an oil painting of a Greek Goddess, her cheeks blushed, her lips as pink as cherry blossoms, her eyes a warm honey brown tone, and her hair golden in the sunlight. If there was a human Aphrodite, surely this woman must be it, the Grand Duchess thought as the lady bowed to her in a show of respect. Her movements seemed like a dance, her face so remarkably memorable and oddly familiar, and yet Katya could not recall ever seeing the girl before.

"I have been instructed to transport these thieves to Khiva." The princess heard the man say, as he pulled her attention once again.

"A servant is not a thief Your Highness, and those who are cannot help themselves." Trixie spoke, this statement greatly intrigued Katya.

"Really? Then by all means, enlighten us." The Grand Duchess said.

"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?" The young woman spoke with great conviction.

"Well, there you have it. Release him." Katya said to the man, the man scurrying to do her bidding moments later. Trixie quickly instructed Steven to meet her outside the palace grounds, before turning her attention towards the merciful princess.

"I thank you, your Highness." Trixie said before hastily making her way towards the palace enterance. Katya however was not about to let the girl out of her sight, and found herself chasing after the young lady.

"Have we met?" The Grand Duchess enquired.

"I do not believe so, Your Highness?" Beatrice spoke as she continued on her way.

"I could have sworn I knew every courtier in the province."

"Well, I am visiting a cousin." The girl replied, thinking on her toes.

"Who?" Katya asked.

"My cousin."

"Yes, you already said that. Which one?" The princess pushed.

"Well, the only one I have, Your Highness." Trixie said confused by the question and growing more and more anxious to leave.

"Are you being purposefully coy? Or are you just refusing to inform me of your name?" Katya said, never having been in a position where someone had not bowed to her will.

"No, and yes."

"Well then, please tell me your cousin's name, so that I may at least call upon her." The princess pressed. "Surely, anyone who can quote Thomas More by heart is well worth the effort." She added. This made Trixie hault as she thought she had finally found someone likeminded.

"The Grand Duchess has read Utopia." The young girl said in awe.

"I found it sentimental and dull, the life of the every day rustic quite honestly bores me a great deal." The princess replied, disappointing the other blonde.

"I gather you do not converse with many peasants."

"Well of course I don't, naturally." Katya replied as if this was the most obvious truth of life.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, but there is nothing natural about it. A country's character is defined by it's every day rustics, as you call them. They are the legs you stand on, that position demands respect not mockery. To quote Thomas More again; how can any man be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs? After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep." Trixie said strictly.

"Am I too understand you find me arrogant?" The Grand Duchess asked, shocked by the lady's bold choice of words.

"Well, you gave one man back his life, sure. But did you even glance at the others?" The young girl said, a sadness in her eyes as her glance met that of the princess. Katya found herself speechless for a moment.

"Please, I beg of you, a name, any name." The Grand Duchess pleaded.

"I fear, the only name I can give you is Countess Valeriya Zamolodchikova." The young girl told her. Trixie had thought of the name in a haste, Zamolodchikova being the last name of the nurse who watched her as a child, and Valeriya a Russian version of her late mother's name, Valerie.

"Well then, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Katya replied.

"Oh Yekaterina, you have returned. The Emperor would like a word with you, several in fact." The Grand Duchess heard her mother call.

"He usually does, I shall be right there." Katya replied, turning her head to excuse herself to the young lady, only to see that the beauty had already vanished.

 _Countess Valeriya Zamolodchikova, who are you?_ \- The princess wondered to herself.


	7. Treaties and Trials

"You, miss, are restricted to the grounds of this palace." The Emperor said as The Grand Duchess and her mother entered the throne room.

"Are you honestly putting me under house arrest?" The girl enquired in disbelief, a laughter escaping her ruby lips.

"Do not dare mock me, Yekaterina, for I am in a foul disposition. I will have my way." Her father replied strictly.

"Or what? You'll lock me away? Or maybe you will sell me like some kholop." The princess said spitefully.

"You are The Grand Duchess, you are a Romanov, that comes with responsibillity! I have been more than patient, and I have given you more kindness than most would in my position!" The Tsar scolded. The Empress came to the man's side, attempting to calm her husband.

"Pyotr, sit down before you give yourself a stroke." She told the stubborn Tsar, before turning her attention towards her unruly child. "Kathinka, you were born to privilege, that brings specific obligations. Your father and I have respected your wishes, now you must attempt to respect ours."

"Forgive me mother, but you two married for love. Father even divorced Eudoxia because he was unhappy in an arranged marriage. Can you really blame me for not wanting to make the same mistake he did by letting myself be forced to marry someone I do not know? Can you really blame me for wanting to chase after the idea of finding love, despite it being breaking tradition, when that is exactly what the two of you did?" Katya reasoned, knowing that there really was no arguing the points she had made.

"You will marry Nicole by the next full moon or I will strike at you in any way I can." Her father replied, ignoring her statement entirely.

"What's it to be then? Will you use the batog on me like you do your prisoners?" The girl taunted, knowing her father would never dare do such a thing to his only living child. This caused the man to be at a loss for words, his following statement causing the girl's mother to shake her head as it was proof that he had lost the arguement entirely.

"I will simply deny you the crown...and live...forever." 

"Good, agreed. I don't want it." Katya replied as she turned to leave.

"Well, she's your daughter." The man told his wife in annoyance as he saw his daughter exiting the room.

The Grand Duchess made her way to the gardens, as she so often did after arguments with her father. Katya just couldn't understand why the Tsar was so intent on trying to make her his heir. The man had even gone to the lenghts of changing the law so he could choose his successor after Yekaterina's half-brother Alexei had passed, in order to give the throne to her rather than to Alexei's son. Of course, this was before the issue of marriage to a woman had been brought to light.

As she had come about halfway through her regular route, her mother caught up with her, strolling beside the girl which reminded Katya of the walks they'd taken together when she was still just a child, before everything grew complicated.

"Please take some pity on your father, Katya." The Tsarina said.

"I am sorry mother, I just cannot imagine marrying a stranger." The girl replied, feeling vulnerable and small.

"I understand, and I will try to reason with him, but you must also understand that all of this is terribly difficult for him, for all of us. It is a lot to accept, Kathinka." Her mother told her, the usual warmth and care in the woman's tone. Katya had always greatly admired her mother's calm nature, as it so greatly contradicted her own heart.   
Oh, how often she wished she could have the Empress's endless patience.

"I know it is, mother. I apologize." The girl said in a more humble tone than the one that usually grazed her voice.

When they had walked a while further, Katya decided to enquire about the intriguing lady she had met earlier that day.

"Mother, do you know a Countess Valeriya Zamolodchikova?"

"Who, dear?" Her mother responded.

"Valeriya Zamolodchikova, she is the cousin of... well actually I am not sure who her cousin is. But surely you must have heard of her?" The young princess said.

"Oh, my darling Katya. There are simply far too many courtiers to know them all by name. Why do you ask?" The Tsarina said in a curious tone. Never had her daughter ever asked about any courtier before, so the girl's interest in this one greatly intrigued the young woman's mother.

"Oh, never mind." Katya replied, feeling redness and warmth on her cheeks as she grew shy.

Just then the Tsar came walking quickly up to the pair, his strides strong and deliberate.

"In honor of Monsieur Caravaque returning to the palace, I have decided to throw a ball, a masked ball. At which point you and I will strike a compromise." The Emperor declared.

"Compromise, you?" Katya replied, almost laughing before her mother nudged her.

"Kathinka." The Tsarina scolded under her breath.

"Apologies." The girl whispered back.

"Since love is what you seek, I will give you a chance to find it. The ball will take place in five days. On that night, at the stroke of midnight, you will announce your engagement to the girl of your choice. Fail to do so and I will announce it for you." The man stated. 

Katya was shocked to say the least, this actually gave her a chance. A chance to meet someone she might actually have an interest in, or a chance to find the girl who had already peaked her interest.

"What of your treaty with France?" The Grand Duchess asked.

"Let me worry about France, you have got much bigger problems." Her father replied.

"Choose wisely, Katya. Let us at all costs avoid having another divorce in our family." Her mother told her as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

A masked ball.

What an interesting affair that should be.


	8. The Life Of A Servant

When Trixie and Steven returned to the manor, they were met by Mrs Davis and Tempest in the gardens. Mr and Mrs Davis through themselves into eachothers arms as they rejoiced in their good fortune. It was the most lovely display of love and joy that the young girl had ever seen, it even causing tears of joy to fall from her eyes. Her happiness was short lived however as she was quickly called into the main room by the Baroness who seemed everything but pleased.

She two other young ladies of the house were sat playing a game of dice when Beatrice entered the room.

"Somebody's in trouble." The dark haired sister said in a snarky singsong tone.

"What do you mean?" Trixie replied confused, for surely the Baroness could not already have found out about her trip to the palace?

"You stupid, stupid girl! How dare you do this to me? To Violet? Oh, the whole thing sickens me. It is outrageously deceitful and I will not have it in this house, Beatrice." Irina screamed at her as she pushed the young girl into a nearby chair, hovering over her as she scolded the girl.

"What did I do?" The brown eyed girl asked innocently.

"Think, Beatrice, think really hard." Violet taunted. Trixie looked towards Courtney, hoping the kinder sister would offer her some clue. The other blonde mimed two legs galloping while mouthing the word horse, making the brown eyed girl remember that morning's events.

"The Grand Duchess Yekaterina stole our horse this morning?" Trixie tried.

"Yes, and that would explained why she returned it this afternoon." Irina said in a mocking tone, before continuing with her rant. "How dare you let her surprise us like that?" 

"I am sorry, stepmother." The young girl replied in a terrified tone.

"Luckily for you, Violet twisted the situation and turned in a beautiful performance. She and the princess had quite an interlude." The Baroness bragged.

"Yes, I would not be surprise if she drops by again." Violet agreed as she threw the dice once more. 

Trixie almost wanted to laugh at this considering how The Grand Duchess had been completely desperate to learn her name when they had met at the palace. For surely if the princess was so interested in Trixie's stepsister, she would not have been that adamant to learn the name of an unknown courtier.

"Come, come, I must know exactly what was said. The simplest frase can have a thousand meanings. She said you spoke forcefully, what did you say?" Irina enquired. This question made Beatrice nervous once more as she had far from treated The Grand Duchess as one should a member of House Romanov. 

"I-I called her a thief, madam. I did not reckognize her!" The young girl tried to explain. The Baronesse started to laugh in mocking and false pity.

"Oh, Beatrice, you poor little country girl. Well, we must work extra hard to make sure the manor is spotless. We cannot have a royal bottom sitting on dirty chairs now, can we? No, of course not." The girl's stepmother said in a condescending tone. Trixie innocently nodded, fearing the consequences if she showed anything but remorse for her mistake.

Just then Mr and Mrs Davis and Tempest entered the room to inform the Baroness of the man's return. Violet met them right away with rude questions of why the servant was standing in her main room. Nevertheless, Trixie was thankful that the focus was no longer on her.

"I-I have worked off your... my debts, madam. They told me I could go home." Steven told his employer. Luckily for them, and especially for the brown eyed girl, the Baroness was far too self-involved to look into how this magical return of her servant had come to pass and therefore instead of questioning the man, just opted to wave him off in order to make the farmhand leave the main room.

"Fine, go... catch a chicken." Irina said in indifference before leaving the room herself, giving Trixie the opportunity to leave aswell, fairly unscathed by the confrontation.


	9. The Dress Of A Commoner

It was midday when the royal errand boy arrived at the manor, the Baroness greeting the man as he rung the bell. Irina knew the boy well, having used her female charms and fortune many times before to make the boy keep her informed on large business regarding the crown. The boy handed her a letter which proved to be an invitation.

_To the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna & the Ladies of the house._

_His Royal Majesty, By the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign Emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all of Russia,  
cordially invites you to a masque ball in honour of the return of Monsieur Louis Caravaque to be held in four days time. _

The letter greatly peaked the Baroness's interest, it being a possible chance of her daughter winning the favour of The Grand Duchess Yekaterina who would most certainly be in attendance.

"What news of the engagement?" Irina probed.

"Canceled. At least until further notice. If one is to believe the rumors, The Grand Duchess must find herself a bride before that very night in order to escape the clutches of French court." The errand boy told her.

"Well, that does not give us much time, but it is certainly better than the previous prospects. Still, I shall require your help once more. I shall need to know who the competition is, every move The Grand Duchess makes, her agenda, and any other tidbits you might dig up." The woman told the man as she slipped silver coins into his hands. The man looked around for a moment to make sure no one could hear them before leaning in to whisper in the Baroness's ear.

"She is playing tennis with Alexis Shubin tomorrow at the market at noon."

The Baroness carressed the boy's skin, her delicate hands moving purposefully slow, granting the boy female touch that he had never felt and toying with the man's emotion.

"A skin of such elegance, concealing such ruthlessness. I have grown rather fond of our little intrigues, surely by now you must know that." Irina said, her voice flirtatious. The woman was ruthless when it came to getting her daughter on the throne and if flirting with a naive errand boy would get her there, then that is what the noble woman would do.

"I am having an inkling, my Lady." The boy replied with a smirk.

"When my daughter is Empress of Russia, perhaps we shall come to a new arrangement." The Baroness told him before stepping back inside the house. It was a cruel trick, but not an uncommon one for people of her station. Using bribes and charms to rise in position was a common scheme and the Baroness was skilled at it.

As soon as the Baroness had informed her daughters of the masque, she and Violet got to work to find an appropriate dress for the occasion, knowing it would have to be the most stunning gown in order to pull the focus of The Grand Duchess. For now however, Violet had rejected every single option.

"What's wrong with this one?" Irina asked her daughter as she held up a discarded red velvet dress.

"It's red." The girl replied.

"Well, Yekaterina loves red." Her mother responded not seeing the problem.

"Exactly, so there will be at least fifty other girls wearing the exact same color." Violet told her mother.

"Very good, Violet." Irina responded. 

"Well, this one is too small." Courtney stated as she entered from the other room, a black dress on her form which was not quite closing in the front.

"We shall just have to get you a tighter cinch." Her mother replied in an unsympathetic tone.

"Mother, I can not breathe as it is!" Courtney responded.

"If one cannot breathe, one cannot eat." Irina responded cold heartedly. The young girl had no response, once again feeling her mother's cold shoulder and being painfully aware that she would always fall second to her sister in the woman's eyes.

"Mother, focus, please." Violet said in an annoyed tone.

"Well, perhaps if you would let me know what you were looking for." Her mother responded.

"Something fit for a Tsarina." The young girl responded in anger as another dress was thrown to the floor. Her mother considered for a moment before remembering a chest locked away in another room.

"Come Ladies, I have just the thing. But we must speak of this to no one." She told her daughters making them follow her into Beatrice's childhood bedroom. By the edge of the canopy bed stood a large chest which the Baroness made her way over to.

"Waste not, want not." Irina said as she opened it, revealing a remarkable white gown with gold trimmings, a headpiece and a necklace in pure gold layed beside it. The dress was surely fit for a queen, a steel boned corset in silk with a dip in the neckline, loose sleeves made out of the finest chiffon, the skirt layers upon layers of soft fabrics making it beautifully full.

"Ooh, it's perfect." Violet said in awe as she got down on her knees to admire the skirt.

"Oh, look at these shoes. Where did you get these?" Courtney asked as she took out a pair of beautiful glass slippers with white silk on the top embroidered with crystals and pearls. Never had the girl ever seen glass slippers before, and they truly were unmatched in their delicate beauty.

"It is Beatrice's dowry, for her wedding." The Baroness replied.

"Cinderella married? To whom.. the chimney sweep?" Violet mocked.

"Well Mother, if that dress is hers, perhaps she would like to wear it to the ball." Courtney suggested. 

"Since when does a royal function include commoners?" Violet stated angrily.

"Well.. never. But she is our stepsister afterall, and the letter did say to the Ladies of the house." The other girl replied. 

"She is not of noble blood." Her sister spat.

"And besides who would ever notice? No one, that is who." The Baroness said strictly.

"Honestly Courtney, who's side are you on? Do you not want me to be Empress?" Violet said as her mother lifted the dress up towards her dark haired daughter.

At the very same moment, Trixie entered the room, carrying a stack of wood for the fireplace. When she saw the women holding her most dearest possessions she felt confusion and sorrow run through her.

"What are you doing?" Beatrice asked.

"Airing out your dress, for the masque." The Baroness said, quickly making up an excuse. If Trixie had only arrived moments earlier then she might have heard the discussion that had gone on, however the poor girl had no idea of the scheme her stepmother had hatched.

"Her dress? But you just said..." Courtney questioned, but she was quickly cut off by her sister.

"I suppose for a commoner, it will have to do, even tho it is practically an antique."

"You wish me to go with you to a masque?" The innocent blonde girl asked with a smile, the concept of her stepmother showing kindness towards her so foreign that she desperately wanted to believe it to be true no matter what her instincts told her. 

"Of course." Irina said, trying to act as if this was natural.

"I do not know what to say." Trixie said under her breath, tears threatening to escape from happiness.

"You do not have to say anything, my child. Honestly Beatrice, it hurts me that you don't feel like one of my daugthers. I thought we could all go as one big happy family." The Baroness said with a false smile. "Of course, that is only if you can complete your chores in time and mind your manners till then." she added, gaining an innocent nod in response from the brown eyed girl.

Courtney groaned and dropped the shoes down on the soft matress of the bed before leaving the room, completely done with her mother's games and intrigues. Of course, this left Beatrice feeling quite confused as she was not used to Courtney acting in such a way towards her.

"What is wrong with her?" Trixie asked her other stepsister.

"Oh, she doesn't want you to go." Violet said, faking an air of sadness and sympathy. The response confused the blonde girl even more, but she said nothing in fear of sounding ungrateful. Yet, the concept of Courtney not wanting her to join them seemed odd to say the least.

Of course, truth would show in time like it always does.


	10. A Sunset By A Lake

When it was nearing sundown, Beatrice was in the woods gathering berries and mushrooms. After a while she decided the dirt and grime became too much and so she jumped in the lake to clean herself, enjoying the brief feeling of freedom as she felt the cool water on her overheated skin, only an underdress shielding her body from complete exposure.  
What she did not know was that nearby a painter and a princess were conversing, the painter trying to capture the warm glow of the sun setting over the water as he discussed the great mysteries of life with The Grand Duchess.

"Do you really think there is only one perfect match for everyone?" Yekaterina asked as she watched a masterpiece come to life whilst fixing the string of a japanese kite that the painter had brought with him from his travels.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Louis replied.

"Well then, how can you be certain to find them? And what if the person you are meant for never appears, or she does... but you are too distracted to notice?" The princess continued to question, forgetting her task as she got up to walk along the lake edge instead, as if this would help her make sense of it all.

"Then you must learn to pay attention." The painter stated simply, adding more red to his golden sun and more green to the calm waters. 

"Okay then, let us for a moment imagine that God puts two people on earth and they are lucky enough to find and reckognize eachother. But one of them dies unexpectedly. What happens then? Is that it? Was that your one and only chance at happiness?  
Or if you perchance meet someone new and marry them, is that then the one you were supposed to be with, or was it really the first? And if so, if the two of them were walking side by side, would they both have been your match, and you just happened to meet the first one first? Or was really the second one supposed to be first? Or is everything just chance, or... are some things truly meant to be?" The Grand Duchess rambled, her mind growing tired by all the questions that plaqued her more and more for each day that went.

"You cannot leave everything to fate, Katya. She's got a lot to do, sometimes you must give her a hand." Louis said as he turned to the girl, talking to her as if no years had passed and she was still the small princess who ran around the castle carelessly.

Just then the masterpiece the painter had been working on was swept up by the wind, flying from it's easel, landing in the lake near a young girl who was swimming on her back, her eyes closed as she floated happily.

"Mademoiselle, the painting, please save it!" Monsieur Caravaque yelled in desperation, the man fearing that all his hard work might be lost. The voice startled the woman as she ducked under completely and coughed out water as she reemerged. Still, she quickly grabbed the canvas, holding onto the edge to not damage it further as she made her way towards the shore were Louis was walking out to meet her halfway.

"Thank you, madam, thank you. As we were lost in our discussions of fate and God, I see an angel was sent to my rescue." The man said as he took the painting from her hands and helped her out of the water.

"Countess." Yekaterina said surprised as she reckognized the girl as the one who had taken over her thoughts through a simple discussion.

"Your Highness." The girl replied as she slipped on a stone.

"Oh careful, here allow me." The Grand Duchess said as she placed her cloak around the girl before taking over the role of escorting the lady up to land. 

While Katya would have liked to say that to lend her cloak to the shivering girl was merely an act of kindness and a result of her noble upbringing, she could not act as if a part of it was not done to protect herself from the ramifications of staring at the nearly undressed and drenched form of the young lady any longer than she already had. Surely this woman was a nymph or siren, for she could not simply be a daughter of Eve while holding such God-like beauty.

"Thank you." Trixie replied in a more humble and shy tone than the princess had ever heard her use. They sat down on the sand across from eachother as they dried under the remnants of the burning sun.

"How come you were swimming alone? Were are your attendants?" Katya enquired.

"I decided to give them the day off." Beatrice lied skillfully, knowing that she had to play her part well if she was to not meet gruesome consequences.

"A day off? From what, life?" The Grand Duchess questioned, once again astounded by the unique and modern ideas that the courtier had. 

"Don't you ever tire of having people wait on you all the time?" The young woman countered.

"Yes, but they are servants, it is what they do." The princess stated as if it was obvious. This response greatly disappointed Trixie, just as The Grand Duchess's thoughts regarding Utopia had previously.

"Well, I wish I could dismiss mine as easily as you do yours." The girl replied, a hint of sorrow and anger shining through as she spoke. Even as a child, when being waited on was all she knew, she had never thought of her servants as less worthy or less deserving. Her father always teaching the girl to lend a helping hand and be kind to others, her servants more like family than staff.

"I must be going." Trixie added as she stood up to leave.

"You are angry with me." Katya said, almost fascinated that someone below her station could be.

"No."

"Admit it." Yekaterina pushed as she too rose from her seat.

"Well, yes if you must know." Beatrice admitted as she turned to face the other woman again.

"Why?"

"Because you are trying to beat me with your snobbery." The girl stated honestly. 

"Well, I am afraid, Countess, that you are a walking contraction, and I find that rather fascinating." The Grand Duchess replied as she stared at the other woman in awe, endlessly intrigued as she could never seem to predict what would leave the girl's mouth, something that had never happened with the other women the princess had met.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You spout the ideals of a utopian society, and yet you live the life of a courtier." The princess explained.

"And you own all the land in the Empire, and yet you seem to take no pride in working it. Is that not also a contradiction?" Beatrice responded, fearless and full of fire as she argued with the royal.

"So first I am arrogant and now I have no pride, however do I manage that?" The Grand Duchess enquired in a slightly teasing tone.

"You have everything, and still the world holds no joy. And yet you insist on making fun of those who would try to see it for it's possibilities." The girl spoke forcefully, leaving the princess in awe once more.

"How do you do it?" Katya questioned innocently.

"What?"

"Live each day with such passion. Do you not find it exhausting?" The princess said, genuinely curious as to how anyone could live their life as the young lady did.

"Only when I am around you. Why do you like to irritate me so?" Trixie said with a slight smile.

"Why do you rise to the occasion?" Katya responded teasingly, making both women laugh. 

_"Beatrice?"_ Trixie heard the voice of Mrs Davis call from a distance, tho she was almost certain no one else would have heard the name that was called. As the young woman viewed the lake, she noticed that the sun had already disappeared on the horizon, the cloak of night upon them.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, I have lost track of the hour." Trixie told the princess as she gave back the cloak.

"But the wind, Mademoiselle, it is perfect!" The painter said, having finally fixed the string on the kite that the Grand Duchess was tasked with handling.

"I am sorry." The young girl replied with a slight bow.

"I am playing tennis tomorrow at the market, will you come?" Yekaterina asked as the girl started running into the forest.

"I must go!" Trixie yelled back, not in the slightest attempting to give the question an answer.

"And again she is gone... why does she keep doing that?" The Grand Duchess asked Louis as they watched the girl disappear into the woods.


	11. An Unexpected Reform

Beatrice just barely made it back to the manor in time for supper. Dining hours were always quite tedious as she as a server had to stand at the back of the dining room and watch others eat, while also staying ready to obey any command or to refill drinks or plates.

"Where are the candlesticks? We can hardly see our plates." The Baroness said as she viewed the two short candles that were sat directly down on the large wooden table, the engraved silver candlesticks nowhere to be seen.

"They're missing, my lady. I swear I've searched high and low." Tempest replied honestly, of course she suspected the Lady of the House already knew this.

"The painting in the upstairs hallway is gone too. It would seem we have a thief in our midst." Violet told her mother.

"Hmm, so this is how you treat me? After all our years together, you steal my husband's dearest possessions?" Irina said in false surprise. Trixie could not stop herself from finding it ironic that the Baroness was complaining about the possessions being taken away from her, when the lady herself had already taken them from the man's only child. Of course, this was opinion she would dare speak out loud.

"I think I shall just garnish your wages until the missing items have returned. Is that quite understood?" The Baroness added as she turned towards the servants. Kasha and Tempest nodded, but Trixie could see the pain in their eyes. The two barely had enough to live off of as it was, her stepmother refusing them their wages would make surviving nearly impossible. Oh, how easy it was for the horrid woman to blame the less fortune for her debts and foolishness.   
Responsibility will unfortunatly always be reserved for those who can not buy themselves out of it.

"Yes Madam." The two servants replied in a bitter tone as they bowed their heads.

"Perhaps I shall sell you all of as kholops, send you to Khiva like the rest of the thiefs." Irina said as she turned her attention back towards her food.

"Oh, did you not hear? The Grand Duchess went to the Tsar and asked him to release all those men. No one shall be a household kholop anymore either." Courtney stated, clearly in agreement with the modern changes.

"She didn't!" Trixie spat out in surprise and joy at the news, earning a harsh look from her stepmother. 

"Oh yes, now by royal decree, any man forced to travel to Khiva must be compensated. And all household kholops shall be made serfs, which will grant all of them at least some protection and right of justice." Her blonde stepsister explained.

Serfdom was not much better than being a kholop, but it was most definetely a step in the right direction. While Beatrice did not want to be too prideful, she could not help but hope that the Grand Duchess's choice to discuss the matter with her father had been partly due to their encounters and dicussions. Perhaps had she played some small part in bringing Imperial Russia one step closer to the utopian world she seeked.

"Compensated? Kholops made serfs? Honestly, what is our world coming to? It is dangerous to encourage and entertain such childish ideas, I must say it is disappointing to hear that the Grand Duchess Yekaterina herself is behind such a silly reform." The Baroness said, the idea of anyone below her becoming more equal being something that greatly frightened the woman.

"Well, what I would like to know is; who is this Countess that everyone keeps talking about? There must have been at least ten courtiers speaking of her today, all describing how the Grand Duchess seemed to fall all over herself in her presence." Violet said in annoyance. Irina waved Beatrice over to make her refill her cup, the child feeling nervous as the topic being discussed involved her.

"Well, we shall find out who she is and bury her." The Baroness said, making Trixie nervously drop her stepmother's cup, the panicked girl quickly catching it so she could pour the wine before the Baroness gained another reason to scold her.

Beatrice felt conflicted, overjoyed at the news of the reform but frightened by the discussions of her at court.   
She needed to protect herself well, keep the secret at all costs, because if she did not, she risked being put through all kinds of gruesome punishments.


	12. At The Marketplace

The next afternoon the tennis match between the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna Romanov and Sir Alexis Shubin was well underway, as was the sales at the market place, the event drawing many houses to sell their goods, Beatrice's manor included. 

Katya almost felt bad for her friend Alexis as he won himself a point. The cheers were terribly imbalanced and it was clear that the audience had mainly come to see the princess. The Grand Duchess however felt awfully distracted as she played, her gaze constantly traveling across the audience as she searched for the young girl who's beauty seemed like that of a forest nymph.

In one particularly strong shot, the ball flew towards the side of the tennis court, making the Grand Duchess chase after it, falling into the audience. Straight away dozens of young women surrounded her, all helping her up again as they stuffed their initialed handkerchiefs in the neckline of her garment. Katya removed them one by one as she returned to the court, before realizing that she did not in fact find the ball.

Her tennis partner pointed behind her where a familiar young lady with dark hair stood holding the ball up. Yekaterina couldn't deny that the woman was beautiful, her red velvet dress contrasting her fair complexion, her lips painted red to match. As Katya made her way over to the girl she heard audience members gasp and whisper, most likely believing the interaction to be far more significant than it was. Humans in general live off of spreading rumors, but courtiers were most definitively the worst offenders. 

"You're looking well, Violet." Katya said as she took the ball from the girl, at least appreciating the view and the calmness the woman held around her compared to the other young courtiers.

"You are welcome to look, Your Highness." Violet replied flirtatiously, making Katya laugh uncomfortably before she turned her attention to the match again, Alexis's boredom at the current chase after the princess's favour visible on his face. 

At the other side of the market place an older gentleman made his way towards one of the stands. He was no noble man, but his riches allowed him to act as one. With four other men behind him he approached the farm stand, seeing his favorite young woman working it.

"Beatrice Mattel, you get prettier every week." The man flirted openly, a crudeness and self-importance in his voice. Even from just seeing his face anyone would be able to dissect that this man thought himself justified to everyone and anything below his station.

"And you, Sir Lieven, are wasting your time and flattery." Trixie replied frankly, utterly uninterested in what the foul man had to say.

"It's a pity your soil is the best in the Empire and yet so poorly tended to." Sir Lieven responded, clearly hinting that he was not speaking of their farmland. 

"We have limited resources, Sir. We do what we can." Mrs Davis said as she saw the man and Trixie speaking, knowing how uncomfortable the man made the younger woman.

"Anything I can do?" He enquired. His eyes were practically burning into Beatrice's skin, undressing her shamelessly with his gaze. His desire for the girl, who was nothing but a child compared to his own age, so blatantly shown.

"Perhaps you should bring it up with the Baroness, and stick to shopping for now." Tempest said as she and Kasha stepped closer to the young woman, Mrs Davis holding Trixie's hand like a mother would a child.

"I'd rather discuss it with Beatrice, if you don't mind. I may be twice your age, child, but I'm well-endowed, as evidenced by my estate." The man told the women, the suggestive words making Trixie turn away in discomfort, acting as if she was forced to lay out more prunes.

"I have always had a soft spot for the less fortunate, especially those who have so much potential. You need a wealthy benefactor, and I need a young lady with...spirit." Sir Lieven said as he stepped closer and closer to the young girl. His intentions clear as he walked to stand right behind her and layed a hand on the girl's shoulder, playing with the neckline of her dress. 

"Prunes?" Trixie said, turning abruptly to make the man's hand fall to his side and holding up the prune tray with a false smile. 

"No." The man replied in an annoyed tone. "I'll buy nothing this week. And you, Beatrice, will do well to remember my generosity, for without it your pathetic little farm would cease to exist. I would be very, very careful if I were you." He added before finally leaving them. 

"Oh, what a horrible man he is. If he didn't buy a bushel of vegetables every week, I'd spit on him." Tempest said angrily as the three went back to manning their stand. 

When the tennis match of the Grand Duchess came to an end, she had agreed to take a stroll around the market with Violet. The pair walked, stopping at times to taste the different treats the market had to offer as they made their way towards the manor's stand.

"These are our servants, Your Highness." The dark haired girl spoke, as if this was a subject she took large interest in.

"Really? I would love to meet them." Katya spoke honestly as the words said by the Countess Valeriya regarding respecting those below you, spun around in her head.

The two older women working the stand froze in surprise, having never met royalty in such a way before.

"Good day, ladies." The Grand Duchess said politely. But just then Beatrice stepped back towards the table holding a chicken. When she saw the princess she dropped the live animal in shock, causing it to spread and flutter it's wings, and as such creating a nice distraction for the young lady to quickly slip away from the stand, terrified of the repercussions should the Grand Duchess recognize her. The two older women quickly caught on and started running around until the girl was out of sight.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to scare the Grand Duchess to death?" The Baroness said forcefully.

"We were startled, that's all." Tempest replied.

"Were there just the two of you?" Yekaterina enquired, swearing she had seen another woman there before the chicken got loose. 

"And the chicken, Your Highness." Mrs Davis told the girl. Katya found it odd, but also had no proof of another scenario being the case, and so she dropped the subject as she and the dark haired lady continued on with their stroll about the market.


	13. Our Lost Loved Ones

Night came upon them and Beatrice found herself in the Baroness's room, tending to the fireplace and helping the Lady of the House get ready for bed, her own feet tired from a long day's work. 

"We must press for a quick engagement. Perhaps see Paris at Christmas? Can you imagine?" The Baroness said excitedly as she reveled in the joy from the Grand Duchess having spent so much time with her daughter at the market.   
"No, I don't suppose you can." Irina added as she watched the farm girl work. Beatrice gave her a sad smile, confirming the statement that she in fact had no way to imagine what Paris at Christmas might be like. 

Irina made her way out of bed, settling down in the chair in the middle of the room, letting her hair fall down her back so the younger woman could groom it. Beatrice cleaned her hands quickly and grabbed a comb to start brushing her stepmother's silky, raven hair.

"My mother was hard on me too, you know. She taught me that cleanliness was next to godliness. She therefore forced me to wash my face at least twenty times a day, always convinced it was never clean enough. But I was very grateful to her. She wanted me to be all that I could be and here I am... a Baroness, and Violet could very soon be Empress of Russia." Irina spoke. 

Trixie brushed her hair a bit harsher at the possibility of a marriage between the Grand Duchess and her stepsister, the idea of Yekaterina marrying anyone else bothering her more than she would ever admit, even to herself. The Baroness took the girl's hand, pulling her to come sit on her kness before the older woman. 

"It's a pity you never got to know your mother. I am sure there must be a little bit of her somewhere in you. Surely some feature of yours must be hers." Her stepmother said as she regarded Beatrice's features.

"I wish I at least knew what she looked like." Trixie replied innocently, a sad smile coating her lips.

"Yes, but we must never feel sorry for ourselves, must we? No matter how bad things get, they can always get worse." Irina said in a sudden harsher tone, as would so often be the case when the two of them shared real moments of unmasked emotion.

"Yes stepmother." The girl replied, feeling sad that their moment had been cut short, however the older woman surprised her when she spoke her next sentence.

"You have so much of your father in you. Sometimes, I can almost see him looking out through your eyes, and it feels like he is here with us still." The Baroness told her honestly, a soft and uncommonly warm smile on her lips.

"Really?" Beatrice said, tears of joy threatening to escape as a bright smile found her lips. Irina herself seemed to have damp eyes, and so she quickly found a less sweet reason for this fact.

"Yes, well, you know you have such masculine features. And well, to be raised by a man.. no wonder you were built for hard labour." The woman said. 

It was not the kindest of responses, however Trixie did not care for the knowledge that some part of her carried her father's legacy on was enough comfort for her. As the young girl looked into her stepmother's eyes, she saw care and heartache that she had never seen the woman hold for anyone before, and so she dared asked a question that she knew could get her in trouble.

"Did you love my father?"

"Well... I barely knew him." Irina replied sadly, her eyes showing the hurt that haunted her from not having had more time with the man. "Now, go away. I'm tired." She added, waving the young girl off.

Beatrice did as instructed, holding onto the moment like a dear memory as she left the room. The young girl had lived so deprived of love and care that even just the thought that the Baroness might love some small part of her because the woman had held her father dear, was enough to fill her soul with light.


	14. Where Kites Fly High

Beatrice had spent the morning meeting with Louis, the painter gifting her the japanese kite that they had missed the opportunity to fly the day they had met by the lake. Monsieur Caravaque didn't have much time that day, but Trixie had taken his instructions to enjoy the fine weather and fly the kite, and so now she was out on the fields with her friend Ron, as the boy painted the marvelous view of the palace in the distance.

"Look, Ron, it's floating!" The girl said joyfully as the kite took flight.

"I don't know how you can be in such a good mood. You're going to be swimming in manure if they really do get married." Ron told her as he dipped his brush into a new colour, the boy having just learned of the possible marriage between the Grand Duchess and Violet.

"I do not know why it bothers you so. I could care less." Trixie responded.

"You're lying, the Grand Duchess would be you sister-in-law and you would be bringing the pair breakfast in bed." The boy argued.

"Yes, but eventually they would move into the palace and I could stay at the manor. I could turn things around, that is all that matters." The girl said as she ran around happily with the kite.

"You like her, admit it." Ron said, not believing the girl's tale. On the horizon he could see two people riding, a young woman and a royal guard.

"No."

"And I suppose.. if you saw her again, you'd-" The boy trailed off as he reckognized the young woman as the Grand Duchess herself.

"I would walk right up to her and say; Your Highness, my family is your family. Please, take them away." Beatrice said carelessly.

"Good, here is your big chance, she's headed this way." Ron informed the girl, who panicked soon after and ran to hide behind a haystack. The pair rode up to the boy, stopping right in front of the startled common man.

"I am looking for Monsieur Caravaque, we are to go to the monastery. Have you seen him?" THe Grand Duchess asked the boy, who looked to her like a painter's apprentice.

"Monsieur Louis Caravaque, the great royal painter? Uhm.. no, Your Highness." Ron replied nervously, the mention of the painter he so greatly admired increasing his nerves.

"But is that not his flying contraption? Where did you aquire it?" Yekaterina asked. Trixie quickly set the kite free, frightened of the princess looking for the holder of the string.

"From uhm.. the Countess Zamolodchikova. She is a friend of his." The boy spoke, quickly finding an excuse for why he would have ended up with the painter's possession. Trixie wanted to curse Ron out for his statement as she knew it would lead the Grand Duchess to her.

"You know her? Please, I beg you, I must find her. With whom is she staying?" Katya said desperately, the simple mention of the courtier's name making her knees grow weak.

"Ehm, I believe.. Your Highness. That she is staying with a cousin... the ehm.." The boy started.

"No Ron, please don't, no, no, no." The girl whispered as she expected what the end of his sentence would be.

"The Baroness Irina Grigoryevna of House Naryshkina." Ron finished to Trixie's horror.

"Hmm, that does present a problem." The Grand Duchess said with a bothered expression, the thought of dealing with the obtrusive woman exhausting to even imagine.

"But, I do know that she is there. Alone. By herself. At this very moment." The young painter stated, knowing that the Ladies of the manor would be at church.

"Excellent, thank you. Nice painting." The Grand Duchess stated with a smile before riding off towards the manor. When the two riders were out of sight, Trixie emerged from her hiding spot.

"Ron, you horrid, little snipe!" She told the boy.

"Did you hear? She likes my work!" He replied excitedly. 

"And she is headed towards my house!" The girl responded in annoyance and fear.

"Then I suggest you run." Ron said with a smirk, the young woman herself breaking into a smile at the thought of spending another day with the princess.

She quickly ran the slimmest forest roads that horses could not travel, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her. 

"Tempest! Kasha! Help quick!" She yelled as she entered the manor. The women quickly aiding the girl in dressing up in a silver blue gown, finishing just in time for the Grand Duchess's arrival. Trixie completely out of breath as she opened the door.

"Your Highness, what an unexpected surprise." The young girl told the princess.

"Countess, do you not attend church?" Yekaterina enquired. 

"I believe my faith best served away from the large gatherings of crowds." Trixie responded, quickly making up an excuse, as her true reason was that her station would never have allowed her to attend church with the royal court.

"Yes, it is quite a spectacle, is it not? Which is why I am bound for the monastery, they have quite the astonishing library. And well, since you are so fond of reading, might I interest you in joining me on my journey?" The Grand Duchess asked, feeling oddly nervous as she proposed the idea.

"It is not fair, Your Imperial Highness. You have found my weakness, but I have yet to learn yours." Trixie replied with a smile, the thought of traveling to a library the most remarkable way she could imagine spending the day.

"Well, I should think it to be quite obvious." Katya said as she leaned in a little, a smile coating her lips as her eyes conveyed her undeniable attraction and interest for the woman before her. Beatrice blushed at this, getting lost in the fantasy of the life she was pretending to have.

"Captain Ivan, I shall not be needing my horse or your services." The Grand Duchess told the guard, the man giving her a nod in response. Katya turned her attention back to the unrivaled beauty before her and offered a hand which the other girl took happily, as the princess told her;

"Today, I am simply... _Katya._ "


	15. Schemes and Deception

The church bells rang loudly as the service ended, the Emperor, the Empress and her ladies in waiting heading towards their carriage as a young guard made his way towards a Baroness and her two daughters.

"Grand Duchess Yekaterina left early this morning, Baroness, and no one seems to know where she went. But I have brought you something that will brighten up your day." The guard told the woman in front of him, handing her a heavy object wrapped in a handkerchief.

"It is one of the Tsarina's most precious necklaces, imagine the graciousness she'll express if you return the lost item to her." The man whispered.

"Oh, you vicous, vicous man." Irina replied, a seductiveness in her tone, the man clearly buying into her affection once more. Quickly after the three women made their way towards the royal carriage.

"Make haste, Violet, it is now or never." The Baroness told her daughter, giving her the marvelous piece of jewelry. The child walked up to the carriage, interrupting the conversation that was taking place inside it.

"Forgive me, Your Imperial Highness, but you seem to have dropped this on your way out." Violet said as she held the necklace up for the Empress to see.

"My goodness, I do not even remember putting it on. Thank you, child." The Tsarina said warmly as she took the necklace from the girl's hands, greatly appreciating the child for returning her property.

"That was very kind, child." The Tsar agreed.

"Yes, it is a rare person indeed who would return such a valuable keepsake, especially in these trying times." His wife added. Violet bowed in respect, smiling at the compliment.

"You are too magnanimous, Your Highness." The girl replied in the softest tone she could manage, trying to seem genuine despite the deception she and her mother were putting the Empress under.

"How very kind, what is her name?" The Tsarina asked her favorite lady in waiting.

"Violet Natalya Alexandra of House Naryshkina." The woman informed her. The Empress turned towards the young girl again.

"Violet, we shall have a chat tomorrow in the palace gardens, you and I. Bring your mother." She told the girl.

"As you wish, Your Imperial Highness." Violet replied with another bow before the royal carriage took off. She turned around and walked over to her mother who was more than pleased with the result of their little play.

"Perfect! You did absolutely splendidly, my darling girl." Irina told her as she took her daughters hands in hers, giving each of her cheeks a kiss in the same way that the french would greet eachother.

"Do you not think this deceitful?" Courtney asked as she viewed the joy of her mother and sister.

"Oh hush, Courtney. All is fair in love and war." Her mother told her.

"Still, if anyone were to learn of this.." The child pressed. Irina turned towards the blonde girl, a strict look coating her features.

"Well, no one will ever learn of it, will they? Do you not want your sister on the throne? Do you not wish our problems to go away?" The Baroness pushed, terrifying the young girl with her harsh tone and intense eyes.

"Yes, of course mother. I apologize, I was foolish." Courtney said, her mother dropping the subject moments later to turn her attention towards the dark haired girl again.

Once more Courtney felt like a shadow following them, not below their station like their servants, but never truly included either.


	16. At The Monastery

"It makes me want to cry." Beatrice said as she viewed the endless rows of litterature in the library. 

"Pick one." Katya said, gesturing to the books.

"I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens." The girl replied breathlessly as she stared at it all in awe. They had walked up five flights of stairs and still the walls of bookcases were filled to the brim with texts from every land you could imagine.

"What is it about litterature that touches you so?" Yekaterina enquired as she followed after the young woman who seemed to be inspecting every single title on each shelf.

"I suppose it is because when I was young, my father would always stay up late and read to me. He was addicted to the written word, and I would fall asleep while listening to the sound of his voice." Trixie explained. 

"What sort of books were they?"

"Anything, but mostly sience and philosophy. I suppose they remind me of him. He died when I was merely eight. Utopia was the last book he brought home from his travels." Beatrice said as she leaned against the railing of the staircase, tears finding her eyes at the thought of her deceased father.

"Which explains why you quote it." Katya responded, finally understanding why the book seemed more important than anything else in the world to the other woman, and how the girl could know every word by heart.

"I would give up anything to hear his voice again." The girl said, the Grand Duchess feeling a sadness run through her at the pain in the voice of the brown eyed beauty. This made Yekaterina pull away, walking to the other side of the room as she once again felt the stark difference in the passion this girl had compared to what she herself possessed or had previously encountered.

"Is something wrong?" Trixie asked.

"In all my years of study, not one tutor ever demonstrated the passion you have shown me in the last two days. You have more conviction in one simple memory than I have in my entire being." The Grand Duchess said in frustration over how she could have so little passion despite being taught so much.   
The princess had been trained in mathematics and physics, was fluent in italian, german and french, was an excellent dancer and horseback rider, and yet could show no passion for any of it that was even comparable to that of the other woman.

"Please, Your Highness, if there is anything I have said or done..." Beatrice said in a worried tone as she stepped closer to the other woman.

"Please don't. It is not you... you are wonderful. Perhaps even too wonderful." Katya said as she took the girl's arm, leading her out towards their carriage again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun little side note. Like I have said a lot of this book is built on real Russian history, the reform in regards to kholops is one of the examples of that.   
> However I just wanted to mention why I chose Yelisaveta (Elizabeth) Petrovna to model Katya after (other than the shared middle name). 
> 
> Because read this: _Elizabeth was a bright girl, if not brilliant... From her earliest years, she delighted everyone with her extraordinary vivacity and was regarded as the leading beauty of the Russian Empire. The wife of the British ambassador described Grand Duchess Elizabeth as "fair, with light brown hair, large sprightly blue eyes, fine teeth and a pretty mouth. She is inclinable to be fat, but is very gentle and dances better than anyone I ever saw. She speaks German, French and Italian, is extremely gay, and talks to everyone..."_
> 
> Like for real; blue eyes, fine teeth, talks to everyone, speaks multiple languages, dances well, extremely gay (meant as happy in this context but still 😂). Try to tell me that this woman and Katya are not fully the same person.


	17. A Surprising Adventure

"Well, this is terribly embarrasing." Katya stated as she viewed the broken carriage wheel. As she had instructed Captain Ivan and his men to not join their trip, they were now left without transportation. 

"We will head back to the monastery at once, Your Imperial Highness." The coachman said as he went on his way to find assistance. 

"And we shall continue on foot." Trixie replied, knowing her return home would come much too late if they did not continue.

"Valeriya, it is almost half a day's walk." The Grand Duchess told the girl, astounded by the very idea of a courtier wanting to wander about the woods almost entirely unprotected for half a day.

"Honestly, Your Highness, where is your sense of adventure?" The girl replied with a teasing laugh as she started walking. The other woman ran after her moments later.

"Well, I suppose if you put it that way." Katya said with a slight laugh herself.

They walked for hours, taking in the beautiful scenery and listening to the sound of birds singing as they learned eachother to know.

"You are remarkable, you know? Every woman I have ever met I could instantly understand and read, always being prepared for whatever answer will leave their lips, but you... with you I can never truly know." Katya said after listening to the other woman talk passionately of works of art once again.

"What do you mean?"

"You argue with me shamelessly and yet worry when my feelings seem hurt. You disappear like a ghost and yet you are more present than anyone in my life has ever been. You challenge me and my views, and for some reason I am addicted to that whilst I surely would find it exhausting were it anyone else." The princess spoke honestly.

"You flatter me, Your Highness, more than I deserve. I think I only live by the words of my dearest writer; _What part soever you take upon you, play that as well as you can and make the best of it. Perhaps that is also why I expect so much of you.. as you have the potential and power to do so much._ " The girl responded.

Katya considered this and had to admit that there was truth to it. However much it bothered her to admit, and however little responsibility she herself wanted, she could not deny that she held the power to do much more than what she was doing.

After a while they found themselves lost, and Trixie being used to climb trees and rocks quickly stripped off her heavy ballgown and climbed to the top to look for the palace.

"You would think I would know the way to my own castle." Yekaterina said, frustrated with her own incompetence. 

"Ah! There it is! It is back that way!" Trixie yelled from the treetops. 

"And I still can not believe that I am down here while you are up there, and in your undergarments no less." The princess added. 

"I couldn't very well climb up here in that gown, could I?" Beatrice countered, completely ignoring the real meat of the argument. 

"That was not my point, as I am sure you are well aware."

"Well, you might break your royal neck, and then where would we be?" Trixie stated looking down towards the beautiful princess who was staring up at her as if she was one of God's angels.

"You swim alone, climb rocks, rescue servants... Honestly, is there anything you don't do?" Katya asked in awe and wonder.

"Fly." The girl responded as she lifted her arms out, imagining what is might be like to live as freely as a bird.  
She had often regarded them as they took flight, envied their freedom to leave whenever they wanted. Beatrice remembered her father once saying that larks never sang when held captive. Now, while she never truly believed it to be true, it had stuck with her for life, the young girl herself often feeling like a lark in captivity after her father's death. For while she tried to make the best out of life despite her misfortune, she could not deny that the song of her heart had disappeared the same day he did. She wanted to learn how to make it sing again, for if she could not fly like birds could, she would at least like to sing.

"Turn around so I can climb back down." Trixie said, making the other woman laugh a bit. Still, she respected the girl's request and turned around accordingly. When she did so however she was met with the faces of armed men pulling our their swords, the same band of thieves who had attempted to steal from Louis Caravaque days before.

"Oh no, it is you again." The Grand Duchess said as she retrieved her own blade. Sword fighting was not commonly something a lady would engage in, but Katya was quite a skilled fencer, having begged her father to allow her lessons just as he had her half-brother. 

"Stay aloft, Countess. There are games afoot." She told Trixie, who was in the midst of climbing down from her sky castle.

A man attacked but Katya was swift on her feet, her blade striking his away skillfully. Her dance was elegant and restrained, the other's uncoordinated and forceful. But still she was greatly outnumbered and knew the chances of winning were slim.

"My wife thanks you for this fine garment, my lady." Another one of the thieves spoke to Trixie, holding up her dress with his blade and waving it like a flag.

"You will give me back my dress, sir!" The girl yelled to him forcefully.

Beatrice tried her best to hurry in order to come to the aid the other girl, but as she reached the ground a man grabbed her and put a blade to her throat.

"Let her go, your quarrel is with me." Katya told the man.

"Release her." Their leader spoke, his man releasing the innocent girl moments later. 

"I insist you return my things at once. And since you deprive me of my escort, I demand a horse as well." Trixie spoke confidently and strictly, leaving the leader of the thieves surprised and slightly impressed. Katya found herself feeling the same at the sight of the young unarmed girl speaking so forcefully to a hoard of men who could easily overpower her.

"Milady, you may have anything you can carry." The man responded.

"May I have your word on that, sir?" Trixie asked.

"On my honor, yes, whatever you can carry." The leader confirmed.

Beatrice picked up her dress from where it layed on the ground before making her way over to the Grand Duchess, slinging the girl over her back and walking away as she carried her. The men started laughing at the humorous display of the highly confused princess slung over the back of a woman in her undergarments and waved the girl back moments later.

"Come back, come back. I'll give you a horse." The leader laughed out.


	18. The Desires of The Heart

Beatrice and Yekaterina did not head back, instead they stayed at the camp of the thieves, who they had now learned were actually nomads struggling to survive. The pair had been offered food and wine and were enjoying their evening together by the fire as the cloak of night fell upon them.

"You are reading my thoughts." Trixie laughed as their childish game of rock, paper, scissors once again resulted in a tie. 

"And they're as fuzzy as my own, Countess." The other girl laughed with her.

"Then Russia concedes?" Teased the brown eyed girl.

"Never!" Katya said in a exaggerated voice, somewhat sounding like an impersonation of her father. She waved for the other girl to lean in closer, trying not to consider how easily it would be to close the gap between them, before she spoke once more. "My next choice... will be paper."

Beatrice looked deeply into the girl's eyes, calling the princess's bluff as she herself played rock whilst Katya layed down scissors. 

"It is your turn, and it better be good." Trixie said. They had both promised that the looser of each round should reveal a secret to the other, and Beatrice was curious as to what the princess's next one would be as the previous ones had been rather weak.

"I truly have no desire to be Empress." Katya said after a moment of hesitation.

"Oh, but think of all the wonderful things you could do... for your country, for the world." 

"Yes, but to be so defined by your position. To never be seen as who you are, but what you are. You have no idea of insufferable that is." The Grand Duchess said in frustration.

"You might be surprised..." Beatrice replied, trying not to roll her eyes at how self-involved the princess could be at times, so highly unaware of the harsh realities everyone else in the Empire had to live with. The fact that Yekaterina could not see the judgement others faced daily and that she herself was part of perpetuating, was something Trixie somehow thought explained a lot about why the woman seemed so frightened of her royal position. 

"Really?"

"A nomad for example, is rarely painted as anything else, a servant just the same. They're defined by their status in society just as your title defines you, yet it is not who they are. You have been born to privilege, and with that comes specific obligations." Beatrice explained. 

Once again Katya found herself entranced by the girl's words and fascinated by how much easier the sentences that she had heard said before seemed to be to accept when said by the brown eyed beauty. Somehow, every word made more sense when spoken by her, the weight of their meaning heavier.

"I am sorry. My mouth has run away with me again." Trixie said, redness finding her cheeks as she laughed nervously at her own boldness.

"No, my lady. It is your mouth that has me hypnotized." Katya replied honestly, letting her eyes unveil every emotion and leaning forward to taste the rosy lips that she had thought of so often since the day the pair met. 

She sighed as the gap between them vanished, placing a hand on the other woman's cheek to pull her in closer, deepening the kiss in a manner that most would find indecent as the sweet taste of the girl's mouth rapidly became addicting. 

_"Oh promise of heaven and angels above, how thou does pale in comparison to this Goddess sent to earth. How childish chasing after you seems when this siren who fills my very being with burning questions and unmatched desire is near."_ Katya thought.

The kisses were still somewhat tentative, but soon Beatrice grew confident and leaned into them more, passion fueling both of the women as they pulled eachother closer. After a while however the leader of the nomads noticed them and began to cheer and clap childishly, causing the pair to break apart and laugh a little at their previously improper display.

The night came to it's end with Trixie and Katya riding back to the manor on a borrowed horse. Beatrice could not help her heart from fluttering as her arms were wrapped around the waist of the other woman for safety, hating how cold she felt when the time came for her to dismount and she had to let go. 

"Right here please, I do not wish to wake anyone up." She spoke. Katya dismounted first, lifting the other woman down from the animal elegantly. Trixie felt as if she were a doll, a sweet doll that the woman she had grown to love could so easily lift.

"You saved my life, you know... back there in the woods." Yekaterina told her, the Grand Duchess's hands not leaving the slim waist of the other woman.

"A girl does what she can, Your Highness." Trixie giggled happily as she looked up towards the Imperial beauty. Surely there could be no woman in history as bewitching as the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna was, it truly was no wonder that both the men and the women of the Empire were so enchanted by her.

"Katya." The blue eyed woman corrected.

"Katya." Beatrice breathed out before her lips were captured in another sweet kiss. 

Trixie found herself longing for the kiss to never end, but she knew that reality was calling her back to it, and so she reluctantly pulled away and turned to leave.

"Valeriya?" She heard from behind her. Beatrice knew it was foolish, but her heart ached every time that false name was said, still she turned to face the princess with a soft smile.

"Do you know the castle ruins by the forest edge?" Katya asked.

"Yes."

"I often go there to be alone. Would you meet me there tomorrow?" The Grand Duchess said, letting her heart guide her actions rather than her fear.

"I shall try." Beatrice replied in honesty. 

She could not promise anything as she was sure the Baroness's wrath would be upon her in the morning for her returning so far past nightfall.   
Still she would try her very best for she could think of nothing she wanted more than to spend more time with the charming princess.

"Then I shall wait all day."


	19. Glass Slippers and An Old Book

"Are you ill?" The Baroness asked in a harsh tone as she and her two daughters entered Beatrice's tiny cottage and pulled the covers off the girl.

"No...uhh yes." Trixie said, feeling the after effects of yesterday evening's endless cups of wine.

"Where were you?" Irina said, anger clouding her tone, her eyes demanding an answer.

"Mhm, I got lost." The tired brown eyed girl stated innocently.

"I do not believe you. You are hiding something from me, I can feel it. I demand to know what it is." The Baroness replied.

"Well, why don't you tell me what it is so I can get back to sleep?" Trixie said, too tired to stop her sarcasm.

"What about our breakfast?" Violet yelled in outrage. Beatrice forced herself not to roll her eyes, but yet could not help but state what first popped into her mind.

"You have two hands. Make it yourself."

This caused the Baroness and her dark haired daughter to look at eachother in shock, whilst a small laugh escaped Courtney's lips.

"Why you lazy little leech!" Violet screamed at the girl in the bed, her mother however turned towards her giggling sister.

"Courtney, go and boil some water." Irina spoke.

"Me? Boil water?" The blonde girl asked in slight shock before sighing. "Oh, I knew it. I just knew it." She muttered as she left the room, once more feeling the difference in the treatment of her and her sister.

It took hours, but eventually Beatrice found the will and energy to rise from her bed and begin her chores. Not soon after however Tempest interrupted her, leaning out the window of the second floor to get Trixie's attention.

"Mistress, you better get in here quick!" The older woman said, Beatrice running inside the house moments later.

There stood the Baroness holding up the girl's late mother's gown in front of Violet, whilst Courtney held the glass slippers in her hands. 

"Oh, look who finally decided to grace us with her presence." Irina said as the brown eyed girl entered the room.

"What do you think you are doing?" Trixie asked.

"Trying on my dress." The dark haired girl replied as if it was the most natural thing.

"Do you honestly think after that performance this morning, that I would let you go anywhere?" The Baroness stated. Beatrice felt tears threaten to fall and anger fill her as she watched her dearest possessions in the hands of the people who constantly mistreated her.

"Do you honestly think these games, these intrigues, are going to win you a crown? To hunt royalty like some sport... it's disgusting!" She spoke forcefully. Courtney gently put the slippers down on the wooden chest before her as she viewed her stepsister's pain and anger.

"You're just jealous." The other stepsister said as she layed the dress down on the bed. 

"These are my mother's." Beatrice responded as she picked up the shoes with one hand, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.

"Yes. And she's dead." Violet said heartlessly.

That was the last straw for Trixie, her anger fueling her actions as she punched the dark haired girl directly in the face, it's force strong enough to cause Violet to fall backwards on the bed and have her legs go over her head as she tumbled to the floor. 

"I am going to rip your hair out!" The brown eyed girl yelled as she chased the now panicked stepsister who had stormed out of the room.

"Mother! Mother, do something!" Violet screamed as she ran down the stairs, the other right at her heels.

The chase continued through the house until they reached the room where Beatrice would so often read by the fireplace. Her copy of Utopia was layed on a velvet chair and Violet quickly saw an opportunity.

"Get away from me, so help me God." The dark haired girl spoke as she held the girl's book above the burning flames.

"No, Violet, don't! Put it down!" Beatrice cried in panic.

"Give me the shoes!" Violet replied, not moving her hand.

"Put it down!"

The brown eyed girl was terrified, the possibility of loosing the last gift her father had granted her so very real. The display caught the attention of the entire house and soon Tempest and Mr and Mrs Davis had entered the room, along with the two other Ladies of the House.

"Consider carefully Beatrice. Your father's book or your mother's shoes? Though neither will save you from a sound lashing." The Baroness told the weeping girl. 

Beatrice hesistated, but eventually relunctantly handed the glass slippers to Irina. Her stepsister however did not take pity on the girl and threw the book into the flames despite the trade, the pages quickly dissolving into the glowing embers.

"No! No!" Trixie screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to reach for the book, but the Baroness held her waist firmly, not allowing her to save it. Her Utopia was gone, turned to soot and cinders before her eyes in a matter of seconds.  
The only person who displayed any sympathy was Courtney who had tears falling from her eyes at the heartbreaking display.

The blonde stepsister would also be the one to tend to Beatrice's wounds once the Baroness had opened her flesh with the whip. Twenty deep indents covered the young girl's back after she had met her punishment.

"You really did bring this upon yourself, you know. Hmm? First with breakfast, and then that horrid display downstairs..." Courtney spoke as she tried her best to clean every cut, tears in her eyes as she viewed the broken state of her stepsister.

"I don't know what's come over me." Beatrice whispered, her voice breaking from both the pain and the heartbreak of her father's book being gone.

"Of course, I shall never forget the way Violet's feet went over her head like that." The other blonde said, causing them both to laugh a little. Courtney hesistated for a moment, but still felt the need to say the words that were circling her mind.

"She should not have said that about your mother." She spoke finally, a tear escaping as she washed another red stained rag.

"Thank you." Beatrice replied softly, enjoying the feeling of actually having a sisterlike bond for once, a smile grazing her lips despite the intense pain of the injuries.

It would likely not seem like much to others, but Trixie knew the risk her stepsister was running by going against the views of her mother and by choosing to aid the servant girl in the first place. Therefor she could be nothing but grateful for the display of kindness.


	20. A Secret Uncovered

The Empress was sat in the palace gardens awaiting the visit of the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna and her daughter Violet Natalya Alexandra for their planned afternoon tea. Her morning had been quite eventful so far, with her daughter bursting into their bedroom without notice. The curtains of the Tsar and Tsarina's canopy bed were ripped open just as dawn broke, revealing an already fully washed and clothed Grand Duchess.

_"Pyotr, wake up. Our daughter has something to tell us." The Empress told her husband groggily._

_"Mother. Father. I want to build a University, with a large library where anyone may study regardless of their station." Yekaterina declared passionately._

_"Allright, who are you and what have you done to my daugher?" The Emperor had replied, having never seen his daughter so engaged or politically interested._

_"Oh, and I want to invite the nomads to the ball."_

And with that their daughter had disappeared, run off to some unknown location for presumably the rest of the day. The Tsarina did not know what had caused the shift in her daughter's personality, but she could not help but suspect that it had something to do with the mysterious courtier that the girl had spoken of with such interest.

After not much longer the two women the Empress was waiting for arrived, both dressed lovely, but the younger sporting a rather dark black eye, which had been the subject of their conversation so far.

"You really must let my doctor have a look at that, Violet... To think you saved that baby from a runaway horse." The Tsarina said in admiration for the young girl's courage, of course having no idea that the cause of the injury was something that painted the dark haired girl in a much worse light. 

"Oh, it was a maternal instinct, Your Imperial Highness." Violet replied with a sweet smile, trying to appear humble and kindhearted despite her bold lie.

"I am so sorry my daughter can not join us, but she seems to have disappeared again." The Empress spoke after sipping her tea.

"Again?" The Baroness asked.

"Yes, she was gone all day yesterday and did not return until dawn." 

The Baroness could not help the thought that entered her mind, that Beatrice had also been gone all day and not returned until dawn. However unbelievable the notion of the two being together seemed, Irina could not deny that there was a chance of it and this irritated and angered her immensely.

"Well, it must be marvelous to have that kind of stamina." The Baroness replied, trying not to let her worries show.

"Perhaps you could help solve a mystery for me. Do you happen to know the Countess Valeriya Zamolodchikova? Apparently, she's staying with a cousin, but nobody seems to know who." The Empress spoke, hoping the other woman could help her find this mysterious courtier.

"Valeriya?" Irina spoke, almost through gritted teeth.   
The woman knew well that Beatrice's mother's name had been Valerie and that the Russian equivalent to that was Valeriya. She also recalled her late husband mentioning the child's wet nurse Natasha Zamolodchikova, and she would not put it past the deceitful child to have created a persona from mixing the two.

"Yes, do you know her? How wonderful! I was beginning to think she was a ghost." The Empress spoke with a laugh, the other women forcing themselves to laugh aswell.

"No, I'm afraid she's been around for years. Yes, and, um, staying with us as a matter of fact. Isn't that right, darling?" Irina directed towards her daughter. 

"Uhm, yes, o-of course. Our cousin." Violet told the Tsarina with a smile, still very clearly unaware of whom they were speaking of.

"Whom you like to call Cinderella." Her mother leaned over to clarify.

The young girl stood up abruptly in anger, throwing a complete temper tantrum as she flung her dress in all directions and screamed loudly, before composing herself once more and returning to the table as if nothing had happened.

"Good heavens, child. Are you allright?" The Empress asked in both confusion and worry, having never seen such a display and especially not in public.

"There was a bee." The young girl replied demurely, her mother forcing a laugh which quickly turned uncomfortable as the Tsarina did not find it funny in the slightest. The visit ended not much later with the Baroness and her daughter returning to the manor with renewed anger.


	21. Where Trees Grow Old

It was nearing sundown when Beatrice managed to make her way to the ruins, a pink silk brocade dress hanging from her tired form, the corset digging into her fresh wounds as she walked.

"Hello." The brown eyed girl spoke weakly, her greeting met with a bright smile and a princess running towards her.

"Hello, are you well?" Katya questioned as she saw the girl up close, noticing that she appeared to have been crying. 

"I fear that I am not myself today." Trixie replied, and the Grand Duchess figured that the girl was just nervous, as she herself was.

"I feel as if my skin is the only thing keeping me from going everywhere at once." The princess replied honestly. Trixie took a deep breath, knowing the secret she had come to tell and knowing the risk it was to tell it.

"There is something I must tell you." She spoke, trying to gather her strenght.

"And I you. Oh here, your book, you left it in the carriage yesterday." Katya said, rambling as she herself had a large confession to make.

"Your Highness..." Beatrice started, trying to get the other woman to truly listen to her words.

"Katya." The other woman interrupted, to which Trixie only shook her head, not feeling that it was her right to use the Grand Duchess's name.

"I can not stay long, but I had to see you. There is much to say." The servant girl breathed out, the weight of her message heavy on her shoulders. 

"Come. I want to show you something." Yekaterina interupted again, taking the other girl's hand and leading her towards a room of the former building where nature had built a garden by itself over time, the trees growing taller and taller, and plants climbing up the stone walls.

"I used to play here as a little girl while my father planned how the new capital should be arranged. All of Saint Petersburg was created while he spent time here." Katya told the girl. Beatrice looked around, it truly was a unique sight, it's wonder indescribable. 

"It is beautiful." The brown eyed girl said as birds sung around them.

"I have meassured my life by these trees. Starting here, to all the way up there, and still they grow. So much life to live. But I no longer imagine it alone." The Grand Duchess admitted.

"You are not making this easy." Beatrice spoke, knowing that this offer was built on a lie and that this... whatever it was, had to reach it's end. 

"I have not slept for fear that I would wake to find this all a dream. Oh, but last night I had a revelation. I used to think that if I cared about anything, I would have to care about everything and I'd go stark raving mad. But now, I have finally found my purpose. It is a project, actually, inspired by you. And I feel the most wonderful...freedom." Katya spoke as she pulled the other woman close, leaning her forehead against that of the fairy-like creature in front of her. 

"It was not me." The poor servant girl tried to explain as tears fell, but the princess would not listen.

"Valeriya, you are unlike any courtier I have ever met. Tomorrow at the masque, I shall make it known to the world."   
The Grand Duchess did not aim to hide any emotion, laying her heart bare before the other woman.

"Oh why, why did you have to be so wonderful?" The other girl cried, the words of love and care hurting more than any scolding or whip ever could. The heartache of knowing it would never work being too hard to bare, but saying that out loud to the woman she loved, far too painful to do.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?" Katya asked, only reading the other's emotion as the girl being moved by her words. 

"Simply that last night was the happiest night of my life." Beatrice said as she turned to leave, the other woman pulling her back and into a kiss. Katya wrapped her arms around the girl, but the servant girl winced in pain at the action.

"I'm sorry." The Grand Duchess said, tho not knowing why the action had hurt the woman.

"I must go." The brown eyed girl spoke through unstoppable tears.

"Valeriya." Katya called after her, but the girl kept running.

"No.. no." Beatrice whispered to herself as the pain grew inside her. She had failed to do what she had come for, and even worse she now knew she risked hurting the woman she loved, far more than she could have ever imagined.

As soon as Trixie made her way inside the manor after changing back into her regular clothes, she was met with her furious stepmother and stepsister.

"Of all the insidious jokes, turning your mother into a Countess? Why, it's almost as absurd as a Grand Duchess who spends her days with a servant who sleeps next to the pigs." The Baroness spoke harshly.

"What bothers you more, Stepmother? That I am common or that I am competition?" The young girl replied with spite.

"Where is the dress, Beatrice?" Her stepmother yelled as the staff and the last Lady of the House gathered to see what the spectacle was about.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Beatrice said calmly.

"The gown, the slippers, they were in my room this morning, and now they are gone. You hid them! I know it!" Violet yelled.

"Where did you put the gown, Beatrice?" The Baroness pressed once more, and that was the last straw for Trixie.

Her heart was already shattered at the impossibility of being with the woman she loved, and so in her own eyes, there was nothing left to loose. For all she knew her stepmother could have sold more of her family's possessions, for she herself had not seen the the gown or the shoes since she gave them in exchange for the book that her stepsister mercilessly let burn.

"Where are the candlesticks, and the tapestries, and the silver? Perhaps the dress is with them!" The blonde girl yelled, her voice almost breaking.

"You'll produce that gown!" Her stepmother demanded.

"I would rather die a thousand deaths than to see my mother's gown on that spoiled, selfish cow!" She countered, regretting it moments later when she noticed the Baroness seeming far too calm.

"Well, perhaps we can arrange that." Irina said, and before Trixie knew it she was thrown into the wine cellar, locked up like a prisoner behind a barred door. 

"Open this door and you'll wish you never set foot in this house." The young girl heard her stepmother tell the other servants. 

"Violet, Courtney, gather everything that will fetch a good price. We're going to town first thing in the morning." The Baroness said as she headed back upstairs.

"Mother, it is only a ball." Courtney said, trying to make the woman see reason, being in grave disagreement with her mother's actions. 

"Yes, and you're only going for the food." The woman replied.   
The blonde girl feeling as important as a mouse as her sister and mother kept walking.


	22. A Bird May Love A Fish

By the next afternoon, the Baroness had already whispered her lies in the ear of the Empress, the woman now in the royal gardens conveying the lies she thought true to her daughter.

"Engaged? To a Swedish man?" The Grand Duchess repeated in shock, not understanding how it could possibly be true that her one true love was to be shipped away.

"I am afraid so." The Tsarina confirmed sadly.

"That is impossible. There has to be some mistake." Yekaterina said. For surely the Countess couldn't be gone? She just couldn't be.

"She was traveling by boat this morning. Baroness Irina was quite reluctant to talk about it." Her mother spoke.

"Well, it's no wonder, with tidings such as these." Katya spoke angrily, her heart aching in pain. "You know, if she was betrothed, then she damn well should have had the common decency to say something!" The brokenhearted girl added as she paced quickly back and forth.

"Oh, would you have listened?" The Tsarina interjected.

"Well, of course not! I would have... Oh, God, I am as Romeo, fortune's fool. How could I have been so blind? There I was pouring my royal heart out, and she was simply trying to bid me farewell." The young girl spoke as realization hit her, all of the Countess's tears the day before suddenly making perfect sense.

"It is a strong woman who can keep her wits about her with you attempting to steal her heart." Her mother said as she stepped closer to the girl and reached up to wipe away her daughter's tears.

"Yes, and what a clumsy thief I turned out to be." Katya said brokenly before walking away.

"Oh, come now, Kathinka. Any choice is better than France!" Her mother called after her.

At a marketplace nearby a young painter's apprentice and a servant were talking in hushed tones, fearful of whom might hear them.

"You must go to the Grand Duchess. Tell her what's happened." Mr Davis told the young boy.

"But I am nobody, the Grand Duchess would never agree to see me." The apprentice responded.

"You are her friend, Ron. She needs your help, the Grand Duchess expects to see her." The other man pressed.

"I-I cannot. Besides, my master has me working tonight." Ron replied, the very idea of approaching her Imperial Highness terrifying.

"Then go to Monsieur Caravaque, surely a painter can see another painter?" Mr Davis said.

"I am but an apprentice, and he is the greatest painter to ever step foot in Imperial Russia! I could no sooner talk to God." Ron said nervously.

"For once in your life, boy, be bold." The servant said before leaving, seeing the three Ladies of the House making their way back towards the carriage, having finished their shopping.

When the ball finally began the young boy had in fact grown some courage, stealing a guard's uniform to blend in and searching the crowds for the masterful royal painter.

"Master Caravaque!" Ron said as he spotted the man, fainting moments later. Despite all this tho, he did manage to bring the famed painter back with him to the manor while explaining the unfortunate situation on their way there. 

The ladies were already gone, all three dressed in beautiful gowns and masks. Violet's outfit in blue and green was themed after a peacock, Courtney's was a less extravagant black dress with a mask modeled after a horse, and the Baroness's headpiece and mask were in the style of the devil, which seemed somewhat ironic to the house staff. As soon as the ladies had left, the servants had made their way to the wine cellar, desperately trying to break the lock on the door.

"Oh, it's no use, Mistress!" Tempest said in frustration.

"Allow me." A male voice said from behind the servant, Beatrice reckognized the voice right away as that of Louis Caravaque. The man stepped forward, ripping the bolts out of the hinges and pulling the door open.

"Why, that was pure genius!" Mrs Davis said in awe.

"Yes, I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door." The elder gentleman responded with a laugh. Ron stormed in to meet his friend, the others soon following after.

"Ron, how?" Beatrice asked with a smile as she saw her dear friend.

"Well, Steven said the Grand Duchess was expecting you." The boy replied.

"She is expecting someone who does not exist." The young girl told them all before turning towards the painter. "Monsieur, my name is Beatrice Mattel and I am but a servant."

"Yes, and I am the bastard son of a struggling painter. My one true love is the daughter of a former slave. What has your station to do with anything?" Louis responded, no judgement or harshness present in his words, only inclusivity and kindness.

"I have deceived her." Trixie spoke with teary eyes.

"The Grand Duchess will understand." Monsieur Caravaque told the fearful girl, hoping his words to be true.

"Come child, we must get you ready for the ball." Tempest spoke. 

"I do not wish to go." Beatrice argued.

"But if you stay, the Baroness wins." Mrs Davis responded.

"How can I face her?" The young girl said, her heart divided in a terrible dilemma.

"You should go, if not for yourself, then for Yekaterina. Because she deserves to hear the truth from the one she loves." Louis told her, giving her a warm fatherly look that the girl hadn't seen since her own father passed.

"A bird may love a fish, Monsieur, but where would they live?" Beatrice responded.

"Then I shall have to make you wings." The man said with a smile as he pulled her into a hug, leading the girl's lips to curl into a smile aswell.

"Oh, come on! No time to waste. Kasha, get the dress." Tempest spoke as they all rushed to get Cinderella ready for the ball.

In no time at all she on her way, painted and dressed like a walking masterpiece. The girl waved back towards her family of staff and friends once her carriage reached the gate, just like her own father had always done. It was tradition afterall.


	23. The Angel's Fall From Grace

The masque was a lively affair, color and music filling the beautiful ballroom and courtyard.   
By the dinner table Captain Ivan had met a beautiful young blonde girl who was dressed as a horse just as he himself was. They flirted sweetly, jokingly neighing and laughing as they made their way around the dinner table to meet properly. Courtney was happy to truly be seen by someone for once, and to have someone desire her specifically, as she so often was left in her sister's shadow. The man was kind and entertaining, and so she easily accepted his invitation to share a dance, wondering if this man might be her perfect match.

Two floors up, in the bed chamber of the Grand Duchess however, a far more heartbreaking affair was taking place. 

"I understand you wanted to see me." The Emperor said as he entered his daughter's chambers.

"Yes, papa. I did." The child spoke. She was dressed in a red ballgown, a sash hanging from her right shoulder and medals on the left and the chest of it, as was the Russian tradition. On her head sat a crown made of gold, diamonds and pearls, a ruby in the center with a teardrop pearl below it, hanging down delicately on her forehead. She was the very picture of Imperial beauty. But all the rhinestones and jewels could not hide the sadness in her eyes, her emotion obvious to any onlooker. 

"Listen, Katya, perhaps it was unfair of me to put so much pressure on you as I did about the marriage contract. I just thought you needed to make some changes in your life. You seemed to me to be a bit floundering. But, well, I just wanted to tell you that I think this University idea to be brilliant. And we do not have to make any announcement tonight." Pyotr told his daughter.

"I have already made my decision." Katya spoke seriously.

"Alright, it is your choice." Her father replied. Moments later they were called upon as the official speech was to commence, this speech would also contain the announcement of the Grand Duchess's marriage plans as Katya had chosen to go through with them.

Trumpets sounded as the Emperor, Empress and the Grand Duchess made their way to the small podium which held their thrones, the two women sitting down whilst the Tsar remained standing.

"This is it, my darling Violet." The Baroness told her daughter as she took her hand, expecting good news now that the false Countess was removed from the picture.

"Friends, honored guests, it gives us great pleasure, on this festive occasion, not only to honor Monsieur Caravaque, who seems to have disappeared, but also to tell you of a long-awaited decision." The Tsar began speaking.

At the very same moment, what appeared to be an angel entered the ballroom.

A young girl dressed in layers of white fabric trimmed with gold. Her hair hanging shockingly loose in curls under a golden headpiece adorned with pearls, matching a jewelry piece around her neck. Her face was painted beautifully with jewels and golden glitter adorning her skin, making her look magical. Behind her were white wings, which moved delicately as she walked.

"Breathe. Just breathe." Beatrice whispered to herself as she stepped into everyone's view. 

"So without further adieu, it is my great privilege to announce the engagement of our daughter The Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna of House Romanov, to.." The Emperor felt his daughter interupt him, the girl laying a hand on his shoulder to stop his words, for there before her stood the woman she loved.

The entire room turned to see where the princess was looking, all gasping as they saw the unrivalled beauty of the angel behind them. Yekaterina broke into a smile and ran towards the girl as onlookers opened a path for her.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" The Baroness said quietly from her spot in the crowd, showing the excact opposite reaction of that of the Grand Duchess.

"My mother said you were getting married." Katya said as she finally reached the girl she had longed for.

"She was misinformed. But there is something I must tell you now before another word is spoken." Trixie spoke seriously.

"Then you are not engaged?" The other woman enquired.

"No, I am not." The brown eyed girl said with a smile, making the princess sigh in relief.

"I was about to make the worst mistake of my life." The Grand Duchess admitted.

At the other side of the room, the Tsar looked upon the pair in a quite confused way as he had heard little of Katya's adventures with the young woman.

"Who is she?" He asked is wife.

"My guess would be the Countess Valeriya Zamolodchikova." The Tsarina replied happily as she saw the smile on her daughter's face.

"The who?" The Tsar said.

"Oh, never you mind." His wife responded, waving him off, not wanting anything to distract her from watching the romantic display.

"Come, there is someone I want you to meet." Yekaterina told Trixie, once again not truly waiting until the young girl had gotten a chance to explain.

"Oh, I must speak with you." The girl tried to stop her, but the princess was impossible.

"Well, whatever it is, my answer is yes." She replied, pulling her with her towards the podium.

"No, wait, please." Trixie begged, but to no avail.

"Look, I invited the nomades." The princess spoke excitedly as a Baroness and her daughter came running up to the pair.

"What are you doing?" Violet asked as her mother pulled her with her.

"Making you a princess." The Baroness spoke just before she reached the servant girl. In a quick and bold move, Irina ripped one of the white wings off the girl's dress. 

"How dare you?" She yelled at the girl.

"Madam, contain yourself." Yekaterina said outraged.

"She is an imposter, Your Highness." The Baroness said forcefully.

"No!" Beatrice cried, having so desperately wanted to be the one to explain it all and knowing her stepmother exposing her would only incriminate her further.

"Her name is Beatrice Mattel, and she's been a servant in my home for the past 10 years." Irina announced. This naturally caught the attention of the Tsar, who's most valued possession was the honor and glory of the Romanov name.

"A servant, Yekaterina? Is this some kind of a joke?" The Emperor yelled harshly as he stood up again from his seat. The Grand Duchess did not know what to say, or whom to believe.   
But surely it could not be true?

"Baroness, you are on dangerous ground." She told the older woman.

"Ask her yourself. She's a grasping, devious little pretender, and it is my duty, Your Highness, to expose her as the covetous hoax she is." Irina said, her hatred for the young girl clear as she spoke. Katya gently took the young girl's hand once more, begging the beauty to offer a different story.

"Tell these women who you are. Tell them." The Grand Duchess asked her. Beatrice looked around the room nervously, tears filling her eyes.

"Bow before royalty, you insolent fraud!" Her stepmother scolded.

"By God, it cannot be true." Katya said, but doubting her own words once the young girl's honey brown eyes met hers. "Valeriya?" She asked.

"My mother's name was Valerie, my wet nurses last name Zamolodchikova, I am what she says." Beatrice confessed through tears.

"The apple... that was you?" Katya said, shaking her head in disbelief, the warm look in her eyes shifting away. 

"I can explain." The weeping girl said softly.

"Well, someone had better!" The Tsar roared in anger. 

"First, you're engaged. And now, you're a servant? I've heard enough." The Grand Duchess spoke as she turned away, the heartache of betrayal worse than that of parting.

"Katya, please." Trixie begged. This however caused the entire room to gasp, for not only had a servant spoken informally a princess, she had also used a nickname that everyone knew to be reserved only for the girl's family and dearest friends. Yekaterina turned around, looking at the poor girl with venom in her eyes.

"Do not address me so informal, miss. I am the Grand Duchess of Imperial Russia. And you.. are just like them." The girl spat harshly.

Beatrice turned around in tears, running out of the hall and out through the courtyard as people murmered around her, the only eyes of sympathy in the main room being those of the Empress and the child's blonde stepsister. 

A painter saw the girl fall to the ground as she reached the palace steps, a glass slipper remaining as she stood up again.

"Beatrice?" Louis called, but the girl ran on.

"Beatrice!" He called again into the night as he walked over to pick up the remarklable shoe of glass, returning to the palace as rain started to fall, with the shoe in hand.

On the balcony the painter found the young woman whom he had known since she was a child, sitting on the ground, visibly distraught.

"What have you done?" Louis asked.

"I have been born to privilege and with that comes specific obligation." Katya responded harshly.

"Horseshit." The man spat.

"You are out of line." The Grand Duchess spoke. 

"No, you are out of line. Have you any idea what that girl went through to get here tonight?" Monsieur Caravaque argued.

"She lied to me."

"She came to tell you the truth, and you fed her to the wolfes." Louis responded.

"What do you know? You live your life through that of others, your eyes always on your canvases. What do you know of love?" The girl spoke angrily as she stood up.

"I have lived more than you know, loved more than you know, and under more difficult circumstances than yours are or could ever be. And I know that a life without love, is no life at all. Love rules without rules, that should be clear to anyone who wishes to experience it." The man told her.

"And love without trust, what of that?"

"She is your match, Yekaterina." Louis tried, begging the child to see reason.

"I am but a servant to my crown and I have made my decision. I will not yield!" Katya yelled, her stubborness always her biggest weakness. 

"Then you do not deserve her." The man spoke as he placed the glass slipper on the balcony balustrade, walking away as the sound of raindrops hitting glass could be heard behind him.


	24. A Pebble In A Shoe

The next day the poor servant girl woke up early, the tears of yesterday burried under hours of hard labour in the burning sun. She was digging in the kitchen gardens when her stepmother decided to grace the girl with her presence.

"I have it on good authority that before your rather embarrassing debut, the Grand Duchess was about to choose Violet for her bride." The Baroness spoke. Beatrice didn't grace her with a reply, only putting down the shovel and starting to gather all the turnips into a basket.

"People can be so fickle, can't they? One minute, they are spouting sonnets, ready to declare their eternal love for all the world to see, and the next, you're back to being the hired help." Irina mocked the poor girl, who was now making her way up towards the house and therefor stepping closer to the foul woman.

"I must say Beatrice, I have never seen you quite this dedicated in your chores." The woman added.

"What makes you think I do any of this for you?" The girl spat back.

"Well, my, my, my. Aren't we feisty this morning?" Irina said, blocking the child's way.

"Let me pass." Trixie requested, but the woman would not move.

"You've brought this on yourself, you know?" The Baroness told her.

"I have work to do." The young girl stated, exhausted from the last evening's events and not in any mood for her misery to be the entertainment of her stepmother.

"Let the others handle it." Irina replied, not moving an inch. Beatrice's anger grew and so in a swift motion she pushed past the older woman. 

"Don't you understand? You have won! Go, move into your palace and leave us be! Leave me be!" The poor girl yelled as tears found her swollen eyes once more.

"You are not my problem anymore." Her stepmother said calmly. This stopped Trixie dead in her tracks, the child turning back to face the other woman. 

"Is that what I am? Your _problem_?" The girl said in heartache, those words hurting her more than they likely should after all the years of abuse. Beatrice tried to calm herself, but she had no more strength to hold herself or her emotions back. 

"I have done everything you have ever asked me to do, and still you've denied me the only thing I ever wanted!" The young girl cried.

"And what was that?" The Baroness said as she stepped closer, seemingly unaffected by the child's emotion.

"What do you think? You are the only mother I have ever known or layed eyes upon." Trixie said softly.   
Their shared moment in her stepmother's bed chambers appeared in the girl's mind, and she could not help but ask the question that could surely break her spirit entirely.

"Was there a time... even in it's smallest measurement, that you loved me at all?" Beatrice asked, her eyes pleading the woman to admit that she held some care for the child who had lived under the same roof as her for 10 years. However her stepmother was truly heartless, and even if there had been such times, she would never admit to them.

"How can anyone love a pebble in their shoe?" The Baroness responded with a shrug, the poor girl infront her fighting to hold herself together at all as she turned to leave.

"Beatrice! My lady! Oh, come and see! It's back! All of it!" Tempest came yelling excitedly, offering a nice distraction from the harsh conversation that had just occured.

As the pair reached the entrance to the manor, Beatrice could see all the missing possessions of her late father returned in one piece, and Sir Lieven standing in front of the carriages carrying them. 

"Ah, Sir Lieven, right on time." Trixie heard the Baroness speak from behind her, the young girl finally seeing and hearing the proof of her stepmother selling away all of their possessions and then blaming the staff for their disappearance. 

"It's all here Baroness, right down to the very last candlestick." The man replied. 

"My father's books, his paintings... you sold them to him?" Beatrice spat.

"Yes, and now they're back. I couldn't very well have us looking like paupers when the Tsar arrives." Her stepmother replied. 

"Thank you, Sir. This means the world to us." Trixie told the man, thinking it had been an act of goodwill on his part.

"I'm a businessman, Beatrice, not a philanthropist." Sir Lieven responded.

"I don't understand." The young girl responded.

"I couldn't very well have you running around distracting the Grand Duchess, now could I?" Irina said as if the answer to the child's question was clear as day.

"The Baroness and I have come to, uh, an arrangement." The man said.

" _You_ , for all this. Although I do think I'm getting the better end of the deal." Her stepmother said.

Beatrice looked at her in disbelief, the woman's words still not registering fully. Not until two men grabbed her forcefully and pulled her onto the carriage, chaining her to the railing.

"No! No! Please, no!" The young girl cried as her family of fellow servants tried to come to her rescue.

Unfortunately, it was of no use.   
Sir Lieven's men were far too many and far too strong to be taken down by three frail servants. And so, the poor girl was ripped away from her home, transported into the house of a man she knew did not mean her well.


	25. The Harsh Hand Of A Tsar

Times were just as grim at the palace, for whilst Katya thought her accepting to marry Nicole of France was enough to make up for her mistakes, the Emperor had quite other plans.

"I will have no more of your controversies dirtying the name of the crown, Yekaterina." Her father spoke harshly.

"What do you mean? I have already agreed to marry Nicole, you've gotten your way. You have won." Katya replied, wondering how it all got so out of control. 

How did she loose her heart to an impostor?

"Have I? Do you think I wanted your improper and childish view of love at a royal function? Showcased for all the world to see? You already tested me by demanding to marry a woman, but what you have done now, Katya, this I will not allow. Do you realise that you have dragged the Romanov name through the mud? You should be on your knees begging your mother and I for forgiveness. You should be grateful that I do not remove you from the family tree. No, your wedding will merely be the first step. You will marry Nicole and then you will leave for France so these rumors may die, so the House of Romanov may regain it's glory. Some day you may return if, and only if, I see you fit to be my successor, otherwise you will stay there for the rest of your days." The Tsar said.

"Papa, you can not mean this. You can not force me out of the country!" Katya said, feeling like an innocent child.

"Enough Yekaterina!" Her father yelled as he slammed his hand down on the table before him, making the young girl jump in surprise. "It is decided, you brought this on yourself. I have tried to meet you halfway but you have brought shame upon us all. You will leave Russia, that is final." He added before exiting the room, not willing to listen to any counterarguments.

Katya turned to the Empress, feeling helpless and small, and in need of her mother's assistance.

"Mama please, help him see reason." She begged.

"I will try, my darling. But I fear that this time, I may not be able to mend things. I am sorry, Kathinka." Her mother spoke sadly. Yekaterina threw herself into her mother's embrace, crying into her shoulder as the woman tried to soothe the child.

Days later the bed chamber of the Grand Duchess was packed, the chests and travel bags already in carriages that would leave for France straight after the girl's wedding. Yekaterina viewed the empty room, already dressed to be wed, the weight of her wedding dress heavier as the reality of her misfortune hit her fully.

"Your Highness, everything is ready for you." A young girl told her.

"Please, tell the coachmen to hold the horses. Tell them to stay, I pray you. Let me at least have a moment more. Let me have more time to say my goodbyes." Katya begged the maid.

"I shall, Your Imperial Highness." The girl replied as she left to inform the men to wait.

Katya took in the view from her bedroom window one last time as she felt sorrow fill her.  
As flawed as her country was, her beloved Russia was all she had ever known.   
How could she desert it? Leave the country that had raised her?  
How could she go knowing she might never return?   
How could she leave behind the beautiful bridges, flowing rivers, deep forests and bountiful orchards? How could she say goodbye to her homeland?

"I have informed them, my lady." The maid said as she returned to the Grand Duchess's bedroom.

"I thank you, miss."

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" The girl asked.

"Yes, I am fine. It just feels strange to leave it all behind. As many times as I have tried to escape this golden cage, I do not think I actually considered how hard it would be to forget it all. How difficult it would be to move somewhere I have never gone before. Through all the heartache Russia has brought me, I think I will still bless my homeland till the day I die." Yekaterina replied, for once enjoying the feeling of sharing her most honest thoughts, even with a servant.

Perhaps the young woman Katya loved so much, despite her grave deception, had impacted the princess more than she herself had understood. 

Perhaps the wounds of deceit could still be healed.


	26. A Wedding of Tears and Laughter

A wedding is usually a happy affair, which is why the wedding of Princess Nicole Karlize Marguerite of France and the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna Romanov of Russia was such an odd event. For while the Russian princess kept her emotions hidden away from the public, the French princess showed them clearly on her face, sobbing loudly as she walked down the aisle. 

They had decided that their wedding was to follow the catholic tradition, even if it could not be done in a catholic church. Yekaterina herself was not particularly religious and her father had taken great steps to control the power of the church is Russia, it being one of the only things he did not admire French court for focusing on, but it had been part of the marriage agreement that the pair was to be bound in the faith of the Roman church, even if the concept of two women getting married would greatly outrage the Vatican. 

The catholic tradition involved a men's choir singing as the woman entered, but the girl's loud sobbing and whimpering made for an absurdly humourous duet. As she reached the pillows that the pair was to sit on before the bishop, the singing stopped and only the girl's loud cries remained. Katya had first found it annoying and could not imagine what it would be like to travel to France while listening to the whining all the way there, but after a while she started laughing uncontrollably at the absurdity of the situation. 

Yekaterina carefully lifted the veil of the girl, who quickly panicked as she thought the wedding cermony was over. The poor girl started gesturing towards a tall, skinny, brown haired girl in the audience as she pleaded in French and broken Russian for Katya not to kiss her as it would make their marriage official. Luckily as the Russian spoke French fluently, she quickly calmed the woman.

"Mademoiselle, madame.. Nicky, relax. I know exactly how you feel." Yekaterina said in fluent French, gesturing for the girl to go to her love.

The French princess sprung up and ran towards the brown haired girl in the audience, throwing herself into the girl's arms. The onlookers gasped at the display, The Baroness and her dark haired daughter hugging in relief, whilst the Grand Duchess ran out of the room to find the one she had let get away.

The Tsar stood up to stop his daughter, but halted his movements when he saw the French princess's guardians argue loudly and blame eachother as they watched their daughter kissing the brown haired audience member.

"And I thought I had problems." The Emperor told his wife, realising that all of this had gotten out of hand and suddenly regretting his harshness. The Tsarina started laughing at the other pair's ridiculous argument, and her husband soon joined her.

Outside by the carriages, the Grand Duchess looked desperately for any servants whom she reckognized from the manor of Baroness Irina Grigoryevna.

"Where is she?" She asked as she saw the man that the servant girl had rescued when they had first met properly.

"The Baroness?" Mr Davis asked back.

"Val... Beatrice." Yekaterina said, speaking of the girl by her real name for the very first time.

"But she has been sold, Your Highness." The man replied, surprised that the princess did not already know this.

"Sold? To whom?" The Grand Duchess asked. 

At the very same moment Courtney and Captain Ivan came to stand next to them, having both ran out not long after Katya had.

"Sir Lieven, Your Imperial Highness. Just after the masque." Courtney told the princess.

"Tell no one we have spoken, for all shall reveal itself in due course. Come, Ivan. There is much to be done." The Grand Duchess said. The Captain bid his sweet love, Courtney, goodbye, before following after the princess who was now running up to see her mother and father.

"I am sorry, I could not go through with it. I want to choose love, no matter how untraditional. If you wish to banish me for that, then please, go right ahead. As long as I am with her, nothing else matters." Yekaterina bravely told her father, expecting a scolding, but none came.

"I will not banish you, or send you away. I chose love, you should have a right to do the same." The Tsar responded calmly. Katya raised her head in surprise, looking between her mother and father in a confused manner.

"How? Why?" The girl questioned, not understanding what could have changed.

"Well, firstly your mother can be quite persuasive. Secondly, when I saw the shambled state of princess Nicole's parents, I thought I would do anything to avoid living my life the same way." Her father told her, looking at his wife with a soft smile.

"Thank you mama, thank you papa." Katya said sincerely.

"You truly love her, don't you?" Her mother spoke warmly.

"Yes, I do. And I will find her."


	27. The Grand Duchess and A Peasant Girl

At a manor sat by itself in a large field at the edge of the forest, a man sat looking through his documents as a knock was heard on the door.

"Enter." Sir Lieven said, the jangling of chains heard as a young girl entered the room, carrying a pile of swords.

"Oh, I do so hate to see you in irons. I'd remove them if only you'd promise not to run away again." The man said as he viewed the girl's chained feet, making his way over towards the woman who was placing the weapons down on the large oak table.

"I have no reason to stay." Beatrice replied through gritted teeth. The girl was clearly worned out and exhausted, the days at the man's house taking their toll.

"You belong to me now." Sir Lieven replied. 

"I belong to no one, least of all you." The brown eyed girl spat back. 

"Oh, I do wish you'd reconsider my offer." The man said as he stepped closer to the girl.

"I would rather rot." The girl said turning around to step away from the man, but he only took her arm and stepped closer.

"I had a horse like you once, magnificent creature. Stubborn, just like you. Willful to a fault. It, too, just needed to be.. broken." Sir Lieven spoke as his hand found the neckline of the girl's dress, sneaking his fingers beneath it.

"You will maintain your distance, Sir." Beatrice demanded. 

"Oh, you didn't say please." The man responded as his fingers continued just below the top of her corset, his nose leaning in towards her neck, his lips close to touching her as he breathed in deeply. 

The girl was clever tho, the man had gotten close enough for the child to pull his sword out of it's sheath. And so in a split second she pulled away from him, turned around and aimed the sword towards the man's throat.

"Please." Beatrice spoke then, mocking her captor.

"I could hang you for this." Sir Lieven threatened. 

"Not if you are dead." Trixie spoke seriously. The man truly did not realise that she was a girl with nothing more to loose, and so the hope of freedom was the only thing left worth fighting for.

"Oh, I do love your spirit." The man said, pulling the girl's arm away and attempting to grab hold of her and push his lips onto hers. 

But Beatrice was swift and cut the man's cheek as she pulled out of his grasp, picking up another sword from the pile on the table. The man fell down into a chair from both shock and pain, and a second later the girl's two blades were aimed towards him.

"My father was an expert swordsman, Sir. He taught me well. Now, hand me that key, or I swear on his grave, I will slit you from navel to nose." The young girl threatened, not an ounce of doubt or fear in her voice as she spoke.

"Your freedom, my lady." Sir Lieven replied as he reluctantly handed the key to her chains over.

At the very same moment a hoard of royal guards lead by the Grand Duchess had entered the courtyard, ready to begin a rescue mission. Just as they were about to storm the building however, a poor servant girl exited with a soft smile gracing her lips. Yekaterina dismounted her horse and stepped closer, seeing shock and confusion in the other girl's eyes as she approached her.

"Hello." Katya spoke nervously.

"Hello... What are you doing here?" Beatrice enquired.

"I.. I came to rescue you." The Grand Duchess responded, feeling a bit silly when saying it out loud.

"Rescue me, a commoner?" Trixie said in doubt as she walked past the princess, remembering every word the woman had spoken to her at the masque.

"Actually, I came to beg your forgiveness. I offered you the world, yet at the first test of honor, I betrayed your trust. Please, Beatrice." Katya begged. The mention of her real name made the brown eyed girl turn around to face the Grand Duchess.

"Say it again." The girl requested.

"I am sorry." Yekaterina repeated, but the girl shook her head.

"No, the part where you said my name." Trixie said with a smile, tears of joy threatening to spill.

"Beatrice." Katya repeated, letting all love and care shine through that simple name. The brown eyed girl's lips broke into a brilliant smile as she closed her eyes and savoured the sound of her one true love speaking her true name.

"Perhaps you would be so kind as to help me find the owner of this rather remarkable shoe." The Grand Duchess said as she pulled out the glass slipper from her satchel.

"Where did you find that?" Trixie responded in shock, having thought her mother's shoe to be lost forever.

"She is my match in every way. Please tell me I have not lost her." Katya continued, begging for the girl to take her back.

"It belongs to a peasant, Your Highness, who only pretented to be a courtier to save a man's life." Beatrice spoke through tears as she sat down on a large rock.

"Yes, I-I know. And the name's Katya, if you don't mind." The princess responded, making the other woman giggle softly. The Grand Duchess waited a moment before she got down on her knees before the girl, ready to say everything she should have said on the night of the masque.

"I kneel before you not as a Grand Duchess, but as a woman in love. But I would feel like an Empress, if you, Beatrice Mattel, would be my wife." Katya spoke carefully as she placed the glass slipper upon the girl's foot. The young girl laughed and cried before flinging herself into the arms of the other woman happily. 

Their lips soon met in a kiss, and not another word needed be spoken.


	28. The Price of Deception

The lunch table at the manor of Irina Grigoryevna was already filled with a heated conversation as the events from the day before were discussed. 

"How was I to know she'd come flying out the side door? She was supposed to be getting married." Courtney said as her mother and sister interrogated her.

"I heard the Grand Duchess talked to you. What did she say?" Violet said suspiciously. 

"Well, I can't be sure. It all happened so quickly. But I think what she said was; _serves me right for choosing a foreigner over your sister._ " The clever young blonde lied. The two other women bought the lie happily, laughter and smiles finding them. 

"Well, very good. Perhaps we shall just let her fret about it for a few days." The Baroness spoke smugly.

Yet when the doorbell rang seconds later, all three women hurried downstairs to see who it was. As they opened the door they were met by Captain Ivan and a royal carriage.

"His Imperial Highness, by the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign Emperor Pyotr Alekseevich, ruler of all of Russia, requests an audience with the Baroness Irina Grigoryevna of House Nayrshkina and her daughters immediately." Ivan said, giving Courtney a knowing look.

"Oh, is anything wrong?" Irina enquired. 

"No, my lady. The Tsar demanded that you arrive in style." The Captain told the woman with a smile.

"Mmm, then in style we shall be." The Baroness said as she and her dark haired daughter hurried upstairs, whilst the blonde daughter stayed to close the door, a laugh threatening to spill as she knew a stylish affair was not at all what awaited them.

It was sunset by the time the three ladies arrived at the palace, a filled hall of courtiers and royals greeting them as they glided down the center of the ballroom to greet the Tsar.

"Baroness, did you or did you not lie to Her Imperial Highness the Tsarina of Russia?" The Emperor spoke harshly once the three women reached the podium with thrones. 

"Choose your words wisely, madam, for they may be your last." The Empress spoke strictly. 

"A woman would do...practically anything for the love of her daughter, Your Imperial Highnesses... Perhaps I did get a little carried away." The Baroness said nervously as she saw the venom in the eyes of the pair. 

"Mother! What have you done? Your Highness, like you, I am just a victim here. She had lied to us both, and I am ashamed to call her family." Violet said in false outrage, stepping in front of her mother to address the Tsar, her sister rolling her eyes behind her as she spoke.

"How dare you turn on me, you little ingrate?" Her mother scolded, pushing her to the side.

"You see? Do you see what I have to put up with?" The dark haired girl yelled. 

"Silence! Both of you!" The Emperor yelled, hitting the floor with his staff. "Good Lord. Are they always like this?" He added, the question directed towards Courtney.

"Worse, Your Highness." The blonde said with a smile. Her mother looked at her with hatred in her eyes.

"Courtney, darling, I'd hate to think you had anything to do with this." Irina spoke.

"Of course not, mother. I'm only here for the food." The girl responded boldly, mocking her mother with the words she herself had used before the masque. Ivan looked at the girl proudly from the crowd, giving her a wink and a nod.

"Baroness Naryshkina, you are forthwith stripped of your title. And you and your horrible daughter are to be banished from Russia, shipped out of the country on the first available boat or carriage, unless by some miracle, someone here will speak for you." The Empress declared.

The Baroness turned her head in every direction as she looked around the room for someone who would grant her grace.

"There seem to be quite a few people out of town." Irina laughed nervously.

"I will speak for her." A familiar voice behind her said suddenly.

Soon the Baroness saw the entire room bow for the owner of the voice whom she hoped was not who she thought it to be. Her fear grew however once she saw Violet's jaw drop and her face turn red. Irina turned around and there she was, Beatrice Mattel, her hair and skin glowing in a way the woman had never seen before, all dirt and grime gone. She was wearing a magnificant, light yellow gown with the red sash of the royals, hanging from her neck was the necklace that Violet had returned to the Empress before the masque, and on top of her head was the famous Ceylon Sapphire Diadem, which was known to be a favorite tiara of the Grand Duchess Yekaterina. 

"She is, after all, my stepmother." Beatrice spoke softly, a regal calmness over her every movement. The crowd stood up once more as the young girl stepped closer to the Baroness, looking into her eyes until she bowed.

"Your Highness." Irina finally said.

"Violet, I don't believe you've met... my wife." Yekaterina said in an amused tone, the dark haired girl's jaw dropping further.

"I want you to know that I will forget you after this moment and never think of you again. But you, I am quite certain, will think of me every single day for the rest of your life." Trixie told her stepmother.

"And how long might that be?" The woman fearfully whispered.

"All I ask, Your Highnesses, is that you show her the same courtesy that she has bestowed upon me." Beatrice told the Tsar and Tsarina, who agreed to this as they knew the true punishment was the two women being humiliated before the entire court and stripped of their titles and station.

Now, the Baroness had granted Beatrice very little in life, however she had not banished her from Russia. Therefor Irina and Violet were sentenced to life long hard labour, finally getting a taste of the work they had put the poor cinder girl under.

The would get to live, but all social climbing or marriage prospects were gone in a split second.


	29. As Morning Rises

"Wake, my sweet." The Grand Duchess told her wife, who layed asleep beneath the sheets. Katya let her fingers grace the soft skin of the woman who layed bare beside her, urging her to awaken.

"It is still night." The girl said sleepily.

"It is dawn, my love, and we promised to be at the library by midday." Yekaterina replied in amusement as she started to get out of bed. 

"We still have time, come back to bed." Trixie said sweetly, reaching up to grab hold of her wife's arm. 

"Trixie, we must be on our way." Katya tried once more.

"Lover, we have time, and they will all understand should we be late." The brown eyed woman spoke as she sat up, kissing Katya's bare back, urging her to return.

"Oh, you are a coldhearted siren." Yekaterina moaned as the girl nipped her skin and reached her arms around her, touching the most private areas of the other woman.

"And you love me for it, so return to bed." Beatrice argued. 

Katya could resist no further, and so she made her way back to the mattress. Quickly she had gotten Trixie on her back below her, her hands caressing the other woman, fingers skimming her skin, lips worshipping her body. 

Their lips met in passion as Yekaterina's hand traveled down, her fingers slipping inside the Goddess beneath her, every moment making it clear that it was an action driven most of all by love, not by lust.

The Grand Duchess situated herself on top of Beatrice's full thighs, grinding down and chasing her peak as she coaxed the siren towards hers. Soon euphoria found them both, sweet nothings and declarations of love being spoken as they worked their way through their highs. 

"We are going to be late." Yekaterina spoke with a giggle after a while.

"They can wait, surely we deserve as much as a quiet morning so soon after our wedding?" Trixie said, leaning over and placing a soft kiss on Katya's shoulder. The Grand Duchess wrapped her arms around her, pulling the beautiful girl close, reveling in the fact that this was her life from now on.

It was early evening by the time they reached the library, but just as Beatrice had predicted, no one had minded the wait.

"Are you ready?" Monsieur Caravaque asked as he grabbed hold of the fabric that was covering his newest masterpiece. Everyone nodded, and seconds later a beautiful portrait of Beatrice was revealed.

The painting was truly unique, especially as it showed her not as a princess and not as a commoner, but both. Her clothes clearly referencing her servant garments, but her hair fixed as a courtier.

"Louis, it is wonderful." Beatrice spoke as she stepped forward to hug the painter.

"Think of it as a belated wedding present, Your Highness." The man replied kindly. From the other side of the room Trixie could hear her friend laugh.

"What?" She challenged.

"I just can't get over it, that's all. Your Highness." Ron said laughing, earning a smack in the back of the head from Mrs Davis.

"Yes, well, royalty or not, I can still whip you." Beatrice responded with a teasing smile, making Courtney and Ivan laugh from where they stood beside the boy.

"I must say, Louis. For a man of your talents it, uh, it doesn't look a thing like her." Katya quipped, whilst still thinking to herself that no one would ever be able to capture the true beauty of her wife. 

"You, madam, are supposed to be charming." Trixie said with a laugh as she took Katya's hands in hers.

"And we, my dear princess, are supposed to live happily ever after." Yekaterina responded with a smile.

"Says who?" Beatrice asked, Katya waited a moment before responding;

"Do you know? I don't know." 

A moment later their lips met in a kiss, their happiness clear to any beholder.

Their love story far greater than most.


	30. Epilogue

"The portrait of my great grandaunt's one true love hung in the University that Yekaterina built, up until my older brother's reign. By then nearly a hundred years had passed, and the truth of the romance had been reduced to a simple fairytale, all mentions of Beatrice Mattel or the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna's unsual marriage removed from the history books." the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna speaks before she sips her tea once more.

"But why? Was it the controversial nature of their love?" Jacob Grimm asks.

"Yes. It was all to protect the Romanov name, of course... Their relationship was, in any way you look at it, new and different. I believe it would have been easier if Yekaterina had been a forgetable Empress, but she remains one of the most beloved leaders of Imperial Russia, having never allowed any executions during her reign and having greatly expanded the focus on architecture and art. The most prideful members of my House, could not bear for Yekaterina to be so loved and yet marry someone so unconventional. So, years after both the Empress's and Beatrice's passing, the Romanov's changed Yekaterina's marriage details, claiming her only engagement to be to a prince who passed too soon. And some books even claimed that she had an affair with her friend and tennis partner Alexis Shubin. Ridiculous, but history will always try to cover it's bravest and most forward thinking people." The Grand Duchess replies.

"That is somewhat of a sorrowful ending to the wonderful story tho, don't you think?" Wilhelm says, feeling slight disappointment, even tho he had expected some explanation of that nature as the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Petrovna was thought to never have been married.

"No, their story lives on, maybe not in it's original form, but their love prevailed." Maria says as she looks with love and care towards the painting of the beautiful young woman that her great grandaunt had loved more than anything in the world, before adding;

"And while Cinderella and her princess did live happily ever after, the point, gentlemen, is that they lived."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end! Thank you for all your lovely support <3   
> I have a new story called The Girl On The Screen, 1st chapter is out now! It's a very different style from this, and instead more similar in style to my other Trixya fanfic; Club Katya.


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